The Experiment
by wolfshalom
Summary: Set before Khan's attack on San Francisco and goes from there. Khan meets a girl and, by chance finds himself reunited with her. In his world, people are cruel and uncaring, and he can't figure out why she fights so hard to save his life in contrast to how to rest of the world views him. NO SEXUAL CONTENT, dark themes, violence, type of genre depends on chapter: lots of suspense.
1. Chapter 1

**Hope you enjoy. Please review—I don't bite. DISCLAIMER: I do not own Star Trek/any of the original characters. **

**Chapter 1**

A dark cloud of danger surrounds him as the dark figure leans back casually against the side of a building, every muscle tense and ready. Any minute now and his prey would walk straight into him: a rabbit unsuspectingly hurling itself into the awaiting jaws of a ravenous arctic wolf. The woman doesn't see him or his cold blue eyes which stare right into her. Her long brown hair flows loosely over her shoulders and down her back. She wears a navy blue blouse and dark black slacks, her green eyes glinting in the dying sunlight. A small girl, perhaps three years old or so, skips contently at her side, her hand clutching the hand of the woman, who looks down at her and smiles gently.

"Hurry up. It's going to get dark soon." She says. The girl smiles toothily and skips a little faster.

"Okay." She squeaks.

Khan's eyes narrow and he steps purposely into their path. The woman freezes instantly before quickly pushing the girl behind her as if she had the power to protect her from the monster that desires to take her life. But she didn't.

"Hello." Khan says darkly, his eyes narrowed. "And what do we have here?"

"What does it look like?" The little girl asks curiously, her voice void of malice. "It's just us."

Khan's dark smile widens at her naiveté . "So it is."

He lunges forward and slams the woman against the wall, his right hand curling around her throat, cutting off her oxygen supply. She gasps and sputters but, despite her struggles, she can't escape his iron grip.

"Let her go!" The girl yelps. "You're hurting her!" She tugs on his leg and he merely flicks her off. She's only three at most: what harm could she possibly inflict on him? She flies across the ally and lands roughly on the ground and tears slip from her eyes.

"Leave her alone!" She demands. The fear from earlier now replaced with anger. "Now! Let go of her, you meanie!" Khan can hear the girl crying and he loosens his hold on the woman's throat slightly as he turns back to look at the kid. She looks heartbroken and slightly injured, but she stands tall and glares defiantly at Khan, her chin raised high and her back ramrod straight.

Again his eyes narrow and his head tilts to the side a little as he inspects her. Who was this kid? Obviously, she didn't know who he was, but a fifty pound human girl standing up to an adult man is an impossible feat all on its own: but for her to stand up to him, not only a full grown Augment but their king—unflinchingly?

Unheard of.

Impossible!

He turns back to the woman and slams her one last time against the wall, his cold eyes burning into her murky green ones. He leans forward, his lips curling into a cruel smile and she flinches, expecting the killing blow to arrive at any second. His One of his hands drops to her shoulder and she can feel the bone shift painfully as he tightens his grip, his eyes glinting in the dimming light.

"Do not tell them I was here or I will make you regret this night. And I will destroy everything you care about and hold dear." His grip tightens on her throat and the girl comes to kick him sharply in the leg; he never feels the pain. Effortlessly, his other hand snakes out he and snatches the girl into the air by the back of her shirt and she squeals indignantly. She thrashes and punches at him angrily but he holds her an arms length away, her desperate blows missing him completely.

"Put me down!" Her legs pinwheel wildly and he lifts her up to eye level for the woman to see. She squeaks and tries to throw her body weight against Khan, but he has her effectively pinned against the wall.

"And I will start with this." He drops the girl to the ground and, without another word, he pushes the woman away from him—disgust etching into his features. The woman lurches forward and gathers the girl to her chest, her body curling protectively around the small child. Khan glowers at them and, surprisingly, the girl glowers back while her mother sobs, her body racking with terrified shudders.

Placing a bored look upon his face he turns and glides into the shadows and out of the alley.

Without a doubt, she would warn her superiors that he'd been in the area and the chase would begin anew…but at least the threat to her family would buy him some time. Regardless of the consequences to his own safety, he had to set them free. Khan couldn't explain it; he just knew that when he had looked at the child, he saw himself reflected back in her eyes pale blue-green eyes.

He would do anything for his crew; and she for her own respective family.

They would even lie down their lives and put themselves through agony. The girl was courageous and tried to evoke Khan's wrath to get him away from her gasping mother. She attacked a grown man, knowing it was a fight that she couldn't possible win in order to protect her family.

That deserved acknowledging.

Besides, the woman was simply an insignificant pawn that Sector 31 had implemented; personally, she had never really hurt him: she had others do it for her—for the sake of scientific advancement. Sure, she took a few blood samples and passed by his cell as she raced to another project, but she had been more..._pleasant_ than most of the others, her indifference a welcome abnormality to their joyful cruelty. Killing her would not undo the wrongs that had been done, nor would it satiate his need for vengeance any more than if he'd curb-stomped a kitten.

He needed to aim a little higher up the chain and slaughter the king, not the pawn. One by one, he would watch the white castles, bishops, and knights—his enemies— fall defeated and dead at his feet. He would then find his family and take back what was rightfully his.

And no one would stop him this time from saving the ones he loved. No one.

Let them try: he would destroy them.

Let her live: she was nothing anyway.

She was merely a microscopic blip on his radar in his quest for personal justice and happiness. She was a speck of dust—not worth his time: an inadequate appetizer before the main meal—not worth devouring.

**...**

She runs home, her child clasped tightly to her chest.

"Who was that, Mom? Why did he want to kill you? Why are you running? What's wrong?"

"Hush, everything is fine. Don't worry. It's okay: it's all going to be okay." The girl didn't believe her but she stayed silent all the same.

They got to her home and she quickly rips the door open and slams it behind her and hastily locks it. If Khan wanted them dead, no number of locks could keep him from kicking the door down, but it made her feel better to put that much more space between her child and that homicidal monster.

She carries the girl to her bedroom and hugs the quivering child to her chest. "It's going to be okay," The mother whispers shakily. "We'll be fine. I promise."

**...**

That was ten years ago.

Now... now the world is on fire. Screams piece the air and the hard clay ground turns red with blood. Fear, like a tornado, whips through the air, smothering anyone in the immediate area as the attackers violently kill anything within sight. Screams of 'medic' and 'help me' crash together in a smothering haze but people take no heed as they stampede over their loved ones in order to save their own lives. And the girl watches on with sad blue-green eyes. Her mouth opened in a large O from screaming as her mother falls to the ground.

"MOM!"

No one listens: if anything, they run faster.

"Mom, get up!" She tries to run to the woman's side but the crowd is too thick, too terrified. She can but watch as the life slips out of her before she turns on her heel and flees like the others. Silent tears burn their way down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry." She chokes out. "I'm so, so sorry."

**So, how was that? Decent, I hope? Well, please review and tell me what you think; I'd love to hear your take on it. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

She runs into the forest, her heart is pounding and waves of cold hard terror are crashing violently down her spine. An enraged howl sounds to her right and she hurls herself under a fallen tree. Tears slip silently down her cheeks and she curls closely against the cracked trunk and preys that the enemy does not find her.

_Please, go away. Please! _She prays inside her head, the words quickly turning into a mantra, a crazed tornado stuck on repeat in her mind. Her heart thunders in her chest and her entire body trembles with terror. The footsteps get closer, leaves crackle under its feet.

_Please! Somebody make it go away!_

A dark shadow crawls slowly towards the monster and an animalistic howl rips itself from the newcomer's throat as he hurls himself at the foe.

**…**

Khan's opponent is strong, but he is far stronger. Fiery rage burns within his chest as he punches his enemy over and over again. Vaguely, in the back of his mind, he remembers seeing a small figure—a child, perhaps—fleeing to this area for safety, but that seems like a year ago. Whoever that kid was, if it wanted to live, it better stay out of his way.

He was not in the mood for mercy.

His enemy punches Khan hard in the stomach and Khan retaliates with a savage kick to the ribs. They fight for mere minutes but time seems to stretch itself into an eternity. With a quick kick to his attacker's knee, Khan brings the man to the ground and snaps his neck.

A light drizzle begins to fall, smothering the flames in the small village but feeding the fire that burns inside Khan's heart. The very drops of liquid seem to evaporate on his skin as his lava like rage courses through his veins. His angry blue eyes devour the landscape around him and he fights to control his breathing and to slow his heartbeat down.

Where was the kid?

"Hello?" Khan says softly, his voice low and neutral. "Where are you?"

Nothing answers back.

"I am not going to harm you." He growls slightly in irritation. He just saved the child's life, now he has to find it, too? Seriously? He sighed. This is going to be a long day.

"Come out." He thinks for a minute and tilts his head at very precise angles as he moves slowly around the area, his footsteps soft and calculated. "I am here to help you. Are you hurt?"

An explosion of movement behind him. A small figure jumps to their feet and races away from him, a terrified scream ripping out of her throat. Khan gives chase and the girl looks over her shoulder and runs harder, faster.

"Stop!" Khan yells but she only speeds up, terror seizing control over her previously paralyzed mind. Khan struggles to keep up with her, but, despite his best efforts, she begins to gain ground.

He growls and forces himself to run still harder…but not even he can keep the pace. Fifteen miles later, he collapses. His foot snags a root and he slams roughly into the ground, his shoulder sore from the impact. Khan jumps to his feet in only to see the girl disappearing on the far horizon. Angrily, he shakes his head and jogs back in the direction of the village.

If she could run, she must not be that hurt. There may be other survivors that he could question. He had found out days ago that Sector 31 had set root on this planet—a planet right on the edge of the Neutral Zone and Klingon Space. If it was true, he was one step closer to finding his family. Narrowing his eyes, he turns back to look over his shoulder and the quickly vanishing girl.

Let her run. He didn't need her anyway.

Not when there were dozens to take her place.

**…**

There are more dead than there are living. Smoke drifts into the sky and dances wickedly in the wind as it leaps across bodies that will never more again. Smoldering blue orbs stare at each fallen and still person carefully in turn before moving on to the next as he looks for life.

What's that?

Look! There!

It can't be!

But it is. He spared her life only to have her die ten years later. Was that her child earlier? The one that ran away? But…that can't be possible. No. No human could possibly run that far, let alone a little girl. It was impossible. It was someone else—it had to be.

He moves on, finally finding someone alive: a young woman with blond hair and dark brown eyes.

"Are you alright?" He asks, his hand reaching down to carefully help her up. People were often more opt to divulge information if they thought he cared about them.

"I think so." She whimpers. Sorrow screams out of every pore in her body and he masks his joy at finding potentially valuable information quickly with false sympathetic concern for her well being.

"It is not safe here. Let me walk you home: it'd be better to be in groups right now instead of alone, especially with it getting dark." He moves his hand lightly to grip her arm just above the elbow to help her walk and also to keep her from running away...but she didn't need to know about the last part. After all, it was too late for her to run now, anyway. Not when he was so close to her.

"Thank you." She murmurs, her large eyes looking up at him trustingly. _Fool,_ Khan thinks. _She won't even see the killing blow before its too late._

"You're welcome." His voice purrs, a deceptive veil of kindness laces itself in with his words and he makes his eyes kind and gentle, like a caring friend rather than a ruthless and savage stranger wishing only to exploit the information that she may or may not have.

For her sake, he hoped she had it.

If not, no one would really notice another body piled upon the ashes.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

She runs before collapsing to the ground in a clearing. Gasping, she drops to her knees and stares up at the sky. The sun is getting lower. With darkness come death...and death is not picky. Weakly, she stuggles back to her feet and her heart freezes when she sees a small pack of men start walking forward. Their smiles shining evilly in the dimming light.

Uh, oh.

Screaming she turns on her heel and runs as phaser blasts light up the air, forcing her towards the raging river. If she falls in, she'll drown for sure. Gasping, she continues to run. Her feet bang painfully into sharp stones, slowing her escape and forcing her to limp, but she does not stop moving. The men laugh maliciously. And she screams for her mother instictively.

But her mother is not here.

No one is.

**...**

Khan had just finished interrogating the woman-she knew nothing of value. The authorities should find her corpse by tomorrow. He had made her death fast and relatively painless. She had, after all, cooperated. A cave would be good right now for him to rest his head. The village was slowly developing into a small city that had a dingy hotel, but it'd be better in the long run to stay away from the populace, less people to recognize him when Star Fleet came knocking.

A scream jerks him out of his thoughts and he jogs towards it carefully to see a pack of grown men hunting the girl who ran from him before. Rage flows through his body. He and his crew may have been cruel and merciless but not even they attacked children-not when it could've been helped. More shots fire over her head and another round of laughter shakes through the men.

They are taunting her, exited by her terror.

They trap her by the river bend, forcing her to step back until her heels are inches from the water. Khan narrows his eyes and inches forward slowly. His footsteps soft so that they won't notice him before it's too late.

Suddenly, Khan surges forward and attacks the man closest to him. He hits the ground, dead before he'd even known what'd hit him. Two of the other men and open fire on Khan, he slows but doesn't fall. The next man screams before Khan wrenches his neck sharply and the other one tries to run. Khan surges towards the last man and the child's blue-green eyes turn and catch his own. Her eyes go wide with fear and she tries desperately to back up. The other man doesn't seem to hear Khan as he roars in rage and launches himself at him; he's elderly—could be hard of hearing.

**…**

The man's blue eyes seem to slice through the men who were hunting me. His body is a blur of motion as he overtakes them and kills them off one by one, their phaser blasts doing no more damage to him than if they'd been bee stings. Who is this guy? Is he helping me to escape or does he want to be the one who takes my life?

He seems familiar somehow and he looks human but…no human could move that fast or get shot that many times and keep moving. The only explanation is that he's an Augment; born and engineered to be superior…but there are no more Augments, not pure ones. The Augments disappeared an eternity ago and no one has seen them since the Eugenics.

I don't like this. This is scary. I want to go home!

**…**

A single shot fires from his phaser the moment Khan reaches him; the old man's grey eyes go wide and his mouth forms a huge oval, a soundless scream whispering up his weathered windpipe. But Khan had been too late. As the last and final man hits the ground dead, he turns just in times to watch the phaser hit the child square in the chest and throw her into the cool waters; her mouth opens in an O of silent pain.

By the time Khan reaches the muddied bank, her brown hair has been swallowed completely by the murky torrent. Even if he managed to find her in the water and drag her up unto the shore, she'd already be dead. No human could get hit square in the chest by a phaser set to kill and survive.

Dead is dead, no matter how you look at it.

**…**

Three hours later

He walks back into town. He has spent enough time on this god forsaken planet. His crew is not here and Sector 31 will be coming for him soon. The faster Khan moves, the better for everyone. If he's not here, Sector 31 shouldn't slaughter the unsuspecting populace when they try to locate him.

There were no worthy opponents for him to battle, and no people to slay for information. This planet is severely technologically deficient as though stuck in the mid-20th century. The ships they have are both primitive and weak, and their weapons are even poorer. Everything is a jungle that's being swallowed by weeds or overtaken by large canyons that put the Grand Canyon to shame. Monsters lurk in the darkness and kill anything that moves. The sooner he left this hellhole the better.

**…**

"Where have you been?" Eliezer asks me.

I shrug; water is still dripping off of my hair.

"I was getting dinner." I throw a branch of berries at him and he smiles, his Vulcan eyebrows jumping upwards in happiness.

"Why are you wet?" Zero inquires, cocking his head slightly to the side.

"I decided to go for a swim."

"I thought you hated water," Eliezer says.

"Everyone's a critic." I roll my eyes and grab my fishing pole out of the corner of the cave—our new home.

I shiver and slip out of my soaked jacket. The river had swept me three miles downstream before finally depositing me on a bank to gasp for air. My clothes are muddied and I'm soaked to the bone, but I'm alive, which is more than I can say for most people.

My entire family is gone and all I have left is Eliezer. We found Zero last year. He had been starving to death and had a wicked fever that nearly took his life, but he pulled through it, and now he's an integral part of our family too.

We never knew why he was out in the woods that day. He been floating limply in a slow moving creek, barely conscious. The boy was barely six years old and must have endured a lot to simply stay afloat. He had bright gold eyes, like a wolf, shaggy brown hair, and light olive skin.

His clothes had been old and worn and not once did he mention his family. In fact, for nine weeks he never even said a word. After two weeks with living with us in our humble cave his fever had passed and he stared at the wall blankly.

Eliezer was the one who brought him back to reality. He started sharing his scruffy toys with Zero and slowly pulled him out of his mind and into reality. If not for Eli, I'm pretty sure Zero would have died and no amount of medicine I could have given him would have saved him.

Not when the will to live was absent.

But soon I'll be teaching him and Eli (Eliezer) how to hunt tomorrow and tell which berries are good and which ones are poisonous. That way, if something ever happens to me, they'll still be okay…because today was a close call. I've had lots of close calls before but…

I don't know.

Today was just _too close._

**…**

He moves inland towards the caves. He'll stay the night there and then move on to a village in the morning to scrounge up a semi-descent ship to escape this planet. Khan didn't care if it was outfitted with weapons or not—as long as it could fly into the vacuum of space without falling apart, it was more than qualified.

It wouldn't take long to build up a fire will all this dry lumber lying about on the ground. He could gather some fruit to eat and maybe allow himself to catch a few hours of sleep as the monsters of the night go on the prowl. Out here, he isn't the only monster lurking in shadows.

**…**

"Look! I got one!" Eli lifts his pole up and I shake my head at him. Eli was a born fisherman; in what I could catch in two hours, he'd get in ten minutes. Sometimes, I really hate that kid, but hey, right now, I'm starving.

"Alright, let's bag it."

By now, we've caught five fish, each one if roughly four to five pounds. They aren't huge by any means, but they'll last us to tomorrow for breakfast. Zero laughs and pushes Eliezer lightly on the shoulder and bolts past him.

"I'm going to beat you!" Zero yells over his shoulder and Eli rushes after him.

"No, you're not!"

**…**

When we return, Zero insists on making the fire and Eli and I quickly clean the fish and begin preparing the meal. Our mother was human but raised us Vulcan, so we never used to eat meat. Even now, I can almost imagine her winces as we get ready to devour fish—meat for all intents and purposes. But, living out in the wild, there aren't a whole lot of options.

The golden rule is eat or be eaten.

Another one is learn quickly or die slowly.

I choose to eat and learn. Black smoke curls into the air and my stomach drops as I see that the darkness is closing in. They be up soon and with their awakening more cities will fall and still more will die.

**…**

Khan's cold blue eyes look up at the sky and he frowns: smoke. None of the townsmen live out in the forest and certainly not this far in. Any travels would have long fled into their homes to escape the horrors of the dark. Who is out here?

And why?

He moves purposely towards the smoke, his strides long and even and silent; the ground being devoured by his ravenous feet. The smoke is maybe a mile or so away: three minutes, four tops.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

What Khan sees before him is bewildering. She was dead; he knows she was—he was _there_ for crying out loud! He saw that blast hit her square in the chest and the raging flood that swept her away. Even if she had managed to survive the blast, the water would have suffocated her for sure!

This was impossible.

And yet, there she was: laughing, smiling, and cooking something (fish?) over hot rocks. She was very much alive—soaking wet, but alive just the same. Two young boys were with her and the three of them ate hungrily once their meager meal of fish and berries were completed.

"When do you think things will get better again?" One of the boys— pale white skin, freckles, piercing blue eyes, pointed ears, and sharply slanted eyebrows—asks.

"I don't know." The girl says with a simple yet sad shrug of her shoulder and her sad blue-green eyes stare blankly into the dancing flames.

Khan knew that look—the look of loss and complete hopelessness. He saw it every time he looked in the mirror or when he thought of his beloved family, his frozen and slumbering crew…and he can almost hear the thought racing through her brain: _maybe it never will._

He shoulders his pack and narrows his eyes at the cave as he tries to decide whether or not to risk going over there to ask if he could share their campsite. In all fairness, not even he wanted to slaughter a group of children, let alone kids who were clearly as hated and unwanted as he was: orphans outcast by society.

On one hand, he'd have a warm meal and a somewhat safe place to lay his head…one the other, it may be better to just lie low. Every person he met was a potential enemy and would turn him to Sector 31 in a heartbeat, especially if their loved one's lives were threatened.

But still.

They may have information that he could use.

**…**

I yawn and sit back, my ears catching the slight rustle of leaves. _What is that?_ I sit up and look around. _Are they here?_

"Eli! Zero! Back of the cave, now!" I grip my knives tightly and tense as I wait for an attack from the Cataclysms.

Instead, a man walks calmly out of the underbrush, his hands raised to his shoulders in a sign of surrender but it seems false somehow. Whoever this man was, he was dangerous and would kill us without a second's hesitation…and something told me that my knife would not be very effective against him.

"Hello." I say and he smiles slightly in amusement. His smile looks more like a predatory gleam than a true smile but I shrug it off mentally. "Are you lost?" I try again and I can feel fear starting to slip in.

"No." He says carefully. "I was wondering if you would be so kind as to allow me share in your campsite." It's more of an order than a question and a silent threat lies just beneath the surface of his words. Allow him to stay for a temporary amount of time, or face his wrath…but just what is he going to do while he is here? Is he here to kill us?

_Did the White Coats send him?_

Are they lurking just out of sight, ready to race in and kill all of us? Is he acting as a decoy?

I swallow again, my throat suddenly dry.

"Will you harm anyone who also resides in this location or steal any of our supplies?" I ask as I try to buy time.

"No." He tilts his head slightly to side at a calculated angle as he studies me. He was the man from earlier—the one that killed all those men. "I have no reason to harm you or your companions nor am I in need of what meager supplies you _do_ have."

He's three feet away now, his hands no longer up.

"What is your name?" I ask.

"Khan and yours?"

**…**

She seems afraid and she had every right to be. Fools looked at him and assumed automatically that he was harmless. His smile would disarm them and they would immediately let their guard down—easy prey. But this child…she wasn't even twelve years old and she saw through his mask.

Strange.

Very strange.

**…**

"Well?"

He is not even two feet away now. If I wanted to, I could reach out and touch him.

"Sure, you can stay." I say and I turn my back to him and walk calmly away. "It's okay guys, come on out! We have a visitor!" His eyebrows had scrunched together slightly when I changed the topic, allowing my name to remain a mystery, but really, I had offered that he share our cave: I said nothing about personal information.

Two hours pass and we are all still alive.

Khan ate the remaining fish and berries. Part of me boils inside to think of this new comer devouring our feast. I haven't eaten in days and worked about an hour to scrounge up this meal, and he just waltzes in and crams his mouth full—the jerk. I hope he chokes on it and gets indigestion.

But I'd rather him eat our food than snap our necks so…yeah.

It's win-win...I guess.

**…**

"Do you have Cataclysms where you are from?" The girl asks him suddenly. By now the two boys are fast asleep in their sleeping bags.

"Yes. On Earth we have many cataclysms: tornadoes, hurricanes, floods…"

"No, I mean the _monsters_."

"Monsters?" He tilts his head slightly to side and smiles coldly, "Like the 'boogeyman'? Or the beast that lurks in a child's closet the moment the lights flicker off?" A contemptuous laugh escapes his throat. "No. We do not."

"What about the ones that rip entire villages apart and slaughter everything? The ones with huge claws and even bigger fangs?" She slowly pulls her knife out of its sheath and Khan tenses slightly in preparation. And here comes the part where she attacks him and he kills her. But she never lunges. Instead, she raises the blade slightly so that it glints in the firelight.

"See? It's a tooth. One of _their_ fangs." It was about six inches long, gleaming white, and sharpened expertly…but yes. It was definitely an animal tooth.

"No. We do not have those." Khan answer evenly and he watches her as she returns her knife back to its sheathe.

"They're why nobody goes into the forest anymore. During the night, the trees are their domain. The White Coats designed them to kill. They were trying to create the perfect murder weapon and this is what they dreamed up; huge feline creatures with advanced stamina, strength, intelligence, and healing abilities. Some people claim that they were created as a direct consequence of the Eugenic Wars—crazy, right?"

He gives a single nod. "But why create them?"

"To hunt Augments; what else? But, like the Augment Project, they also failed. The Augments were created to bring peace and they brought war and destruction. The Cataclysms were made to protect the villagers from the Augments and whoever else would attack us…and no one ever dreamt that they would turn on us."

"But they did."

"Yes." She looks away from him and stares back into the fire. "Yes they did."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The rest of the night passes slowly. Khan for the most part, ignores me. He's lying on his back with his eyes narrowed and glaring up at the roof. He looks angry about something and seems to have been irritated ever since I said the Augment Project ended as a failure. Weird.

Even so, this guy is starting to freak me out a little. Screaming, and violence, and chaos would be preferable to his silence. When everything is hectic, I know what to expect and how to avoid it, but this? I don't know how to deal with _this._ He's a walking stick of dynamite set to go off at any time.

One wrong move and—boom! Dead. All of us, dead.

"What is your name?" He asks, his deep voice echoing silently in through the cave tunnels. Goosebumps appear on my arms and I shrug.

"Why?"

"Why not?" He answer evenly.

Well, since you put it that way…

"My name is a proper noun, which means that it will be capitalized. Isn't your name also a collection of proper nouns?" I say quickly. He turns and lifts an eyebrow at me and a mixture of emotions tickle over his facial features before quickly plastering back into neutral: confusion, irritation, and slight amusement.

Who was this guy?

"That is not what I meant."

"Call me Ze'eva."

"What does that mean?" He looks away from me and again begins to study the cave ceiling.

"It means 'wolf' in Hebrew. What about 'Khan'?"

"'Ruler' in Turkish."

**…**

He thinks that the girl is strange. She is amusing in her own way but very peculiar. Most people flinched away from him and answered his questions immediately and correctly…she stared him down and glared right back at him, her eyes blazing with a furious determination that he had yet to find in anyone else. And she didn't answer his questions like the others—she danced around them, agilely steering the conversation away or giving answers that were technically correct but not what he was looking for.

Ze'eva looked frail and thin, and he could easily break her bones if need be, but she had the look of an experienced warrior about her—someone who used to fighting for her own life, but this child was no more than thirteen. But he knew that look.

His Augment family had that same look on their faces when they grew up in cages and fought desperately for survival.

Khan inhales deeply and exhales, his eyes flickering shut.

Well, this girl, at least, had something Khan had neglected to learn: morality. As long Khan didn't attack her or her companions, she would not attack him. If he was going to get some sleep, now would be the time to do it.

**…**

I watch his chest rise and fall and eventually he starts to snore quietly. Wow, I feel creepy: stalker much? Sighing, I lean back and stare up at the sky, the stars twinkling sadly in the dark sky. All around us, the Cataclysms roar and scream and I hear another village fall, reduced to ashes and bones within a matter of minutes: any survivors gobbled up as dinner for the vicious beasts.

Typically, the villages use light poles to keep them out. The Cataclysms have sensitive eyes and to look at a bright bulb or a large fire is like looking into the sun: excruciatingly painful. But, every now and then, the bulbs will break or the electricity will falter ever so slightly. That's when they strike.

Quickly, I leap to my feet and refuel the flames. The fire cackles and laughs mirthlessly, black smoke twirling gracefully into my face, making my eyes water and burn. Well, I'd rather my eyes burn than meet another Cataclysm. Sitting back, I look around once more at our campsite, my eyes getting heavier and heavier until darkness blankets me.

**… **

_I was nine. Sunlight shimmers through the trees, a last attempt to reach the ground before the sun gets dragged beneath the horizon and darkness rises. But, I wasn't paying attention. One by one the bird songs faltered and stopped as the wildlife fled for their lives with the coming of the moon. Unknowingly, I wandered deeper and deeper into the forest, my eyes wide as they soaked up the world around me: a kaleidoscope of colors jumping out at me, begging me to investigate each and every one. _

_Then, I was at the river. A cool breeze flew across the water and sprinkled droplet on my face. One by one the star ignited the sky and screamed at me to run, but I didn't listen. The water was glistening in the moonlight, stained silver by the moon. _

_Dead silence descends and even the forest seemed to hold its breath._

_I didn't notice until the screaming stared._

_Loud grating howls of rage echoed around me as a huge black wildcat-like creature leaped on the other side of the river. Its huge saber teeth shone in the dim light and snarled before making a fake charge towards the water, its hackles raised. That was when the fear hit._

_Not before._

_Then._

_I screamed and ran and it raced after me. Time and space melted away until my world simply became the motion of running and the sensation of terror stuck on repeat. Its hot breath slithered down my back and I could hear it growling just over my shoulder, but I never stopped to look._

_To stop would be suicide. _

_I escaped that night, but just barely._

_Two weeks later, I would see it again but this time during the day. It eyes were squinting painfully against the harsh light, the irises already burned white, leaving it blind, whether permanently or temporarily I do not know. All I know is that it died. It went to kill me and ran into a spike. Of course, I ran away only to return three days later to snag the saber fangs: two of them. Cutting them in half, I had four blades: one for my brother, Eli, one for my sister, Dakota, and two for me._

_And those were the best knives I have ever had the pleasure of seeing let alone owning. Of course, after discovering the body of their fallen comrade, the Cataclysms transpired to attack and raid villages more ruthlessly than before. Their enraged howls echoing long until sunrise before they would lock themselves away and cower in their dens as the sunlight appeared. But they never got to my village._

_At least, not yet._

**…**

She yawns and stretches before seeing Khan sitting back and studying her carefully.

"Sweet dreams or did your sparkling personality make your nightmares run in terror?" She asks, quickly jumping to her feet.

"Charming." His mouth curls up into a sneer as he lays the sarcasm thickly into his voice.

"Any time."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

He leaves immediately after the sun begins to rise above the horizon. Suddenly, he had just stood up with his back ram-rod straight, nodded at me briskly, and marched off into the forest—away from the village. Well, either he's lost or he has a death wish: either way, it's not my problem.

He'll figure it out eventually.

"So." I look at Eli. "Think you guys will be okay while I battle against the checkered flags?"

He smiles. "Just bring back some popcorn."

"Okay." I smirk back and feel a slight twinge of guilt pinch my heart. Here we are talking about popcorn and some poor fool is walking to his doom.

Nah, I'm sure that he'll be fine...

Right…?

**…**

Khan looks around him and frowns. It's been many hours since he left the girl's cave: surely he would have made it to the village by now? He must have misjudged the distance or looked at the map wrong.

Khan Noonien Singh is a cold-blooded killer—he _does not_ get lost.

But if he isn't lost, why is he still surrounded by these blue trees? He needs to get off this planet_ now_ and find his crew, not frolic through the evil forest!

Khan sighs. This can't be happening to him.

**…**

"Ready?" I look at my best friend and smile beneath my blue bandanna which is covering my face to conceal my identity.

"Oh, yeah!"

We run into our ship and the crowd roars and cheers: the race is about to begin. One by one ten ship's engine scream as the crafts ready for flight, but this not a game. This is the most dangerous race in the world: the only rule is that we are not allowed to use weapons.

This does not make it any less dangerous.

If anything, it only makes things worse.

The signal is given and we shoot up into the air. Right off the bat, the craft to my right swerves towards us and I jerk the wheel up and the motion sends my stomach into my big toe. My friend, Truk, swallows. We're impoverished kids. Here, that means you either work in extremely dangerous conditions to make a little extra green, or you grab a ship and win big. A single win could feed a family of four comfortably for a year.

Here winning is living, but the game itself could be your grave.

**…**

Khan looks up at the sky and sees multiple ships race past. His eyes narrow and he speeds up. He didn't know what those vessels were for, but whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

Inhale.

Exhale.

All he had to do was get into a village and fly away—this shouldn't be so difficult! He had endured countless torture from Sector 31: this place shouldn't even be a blip on his radar!

But it was.

This place and that girl…

He felt a strange connection to that girl and her pointy eared brother that he only felt with the other Augments, like he has to help protect them so somehow…but there was no time. And besides, war was no place for children and they'd only slow him down and endanger his mission...his family. No, he was going to make sure that Star Fleet burned.

A small smile graces his lips.

The admiral's agony was all he needed to be revitalized.

But first, he really had to get out of here.

**…**

"Pull up!" Truk yells loudly, his fingers digging into my arm.

I jerk the wheel and we whiz quickly over the finish line. Sweet! We won! Now, it's time to jet. The moment my ship hits the ground, I'm running out of the hatch and into the forest just as the crowd surges around Truk and lifts him above their heads while they chant his name. He smiles nervously at me and shrugs, and I wave at him and laugh.

Poor guy, he's almost as bad with people as I am.

But at least they won't kill him on sight.

Me on the other hand…

Well, the past is the past: better to bury it than to confront it. Truk will get the money and split it two ways. In the meantime, I need to find my little makeshift family some lunch…and save that weird guy—if he's still alive, that is.

I inhale deeply and sigh, the sun is hanging low. This is going to take forever, better start now. It doesn't take long to scrounge up some peaches, fill a few small pouches with pecans, grab a large abandoned bag of popcorn, and catch four small quail. Today we may dine like the aristocrats but tomorrow brings no promise of nourishment or safety.

Survival is a constant battle and so far, I'm winning.

Is Khan?

**…**

Eerie laughter.

The hair on the back of Khan's neck rises and he glares about him to find the source of the hellish sounds. Claws scratching on stone, the loud snap as teeth gnash eagerly. Where is it? He turns in a small circle but nothing presents itself to him.

A sharp hiss assaults in his ear; he wheels around.

Nothing.

A whisper of a scent on the breeze: animal, not human. What is it? The Cataclysms? Ze'eva said that they were only seen at night, but is it possible one has awoken itself to haunt the day? The sun has not yet set and he has at least two hours left of daylight. A shadow falls over him as a huge cumulonimbus blocks the out the pulsating red sun and static sings through the hot and humid air.

"Show yourself!" Khan bellows.

**…**

Eliezer had been delighted at the food I had brought (especially the popcorn—that kid has a bad obsession with that buttery goodness). He and Zero promised to save me some as I turned and ran through the forest. The wind shifts and a knife of cold air slices through me.

This can't be good.

**…**

Something is moving around him in a slow circle, staying just out of sight. There are more now—a small pack—but he has yet to catch sight of any of them. What he wants is to rip them apart and watch them bleed, but any sudden movements could cause the entire mass of predators to descend upon in a wild spree. He'll have to wait until they choose to show themselves and then slaughter them all before they slay him.

**…**

His footprints go to the riverbank and disappear. The idiot, what'd he think was over there? Everyone knows not to cross the river! That's where danger lives; yep, this guy is _definitely_ a clueless tourist. I sigh and shift my feet. Had I warned him, neither of us would be in this mess.

But that doesn't mean that I don't hate that guy right now for not having the foresight for not running through the forest.

It's his fault if he dies.

_Not_ mine.

**…**

They descend on him like a swarm of rabid bees: everywhere and uncountable. The very air seems to be made up of muddied fur and their needle sharp teeth slice neatly into his body and pin him to the ground on his back. Furiously, he whips his limps around trying to escape their hold, but where one loses its grip, two more snap on and dig in stubbornly. He hears something yell out to him but he can't really be sure. Nothing exists right now but pain and the sound of his agonized screams.

**…**

They're eating him alive. I pull a few spherical objects from my pockets and hurl them quickly into the wriggling mass screaming, "Hold on!" But I'm not sure if he heard me or not. But really, with all that screaming he's doing, who could blame him is he couldn't?

A high-pitched whistle that only the beasts can hear is activated the moment the objects hit the ground and I rock back on my heels and watch as every single one of the abominations flee in agony, their ears pressed tightly to their heads and their tails trembling between their legs.

I cock my head slightly at Khan: his breathing was sharp and ragged and his eyelids droop before finally flickering shut. Quickly, I race to his side and press my fingers lightly to the side of his throat—he still has a pulse.

He is alive.

But for how much longer?

**Love to hear what you guys have to say; please review. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Pain.

Liquid agony races through his veins. He gasps for air but that only makes his lungs scream louder. Every cell in his body begs for him to return to sweet and blissful oblivion.

"Will he be okay?" He hears a familiar voice of a young boy ask, but Khan's head throbs too much for him to even bother to try to remember who the child is. "Will be die?" The voice sounds again, this time sounding more scared than worried.

"I don't know." A teenage girl's voice. "Maybe."

Darkness washes over him again.

**…**

"What will happen to him?" Zero murmurs, his brown eyes full of sadness. "Shouldn't we take him to a hospital?"

"If we so much as step foot into the village, we'll be killed on sight." I say. "Besides, if he's what I think he is, a hospital wouldn't do him any favors."

"Is he a criminal? Was he running from the law? Is that how he got hurt? Because he'd rather die from the monsters than face the police? Do you think he ever killed anyone? Is he a murderer—?"

"I don't know." I interrupt quickly. "All I know is that he needs medical attention and I'm a trained first respondent-hand me those bandages." I'm beginning to get annoyed to Zero's game of 10,000 questions. Most days he's quieter than a mouse…today is not one of those days.

I finish with the bandages and rock back on my heels. So far, he's still breathing and has a fairly steady pulse—that's a good sign. His respiratory abilities seemed to have approved drastically and so has his physical appearance: much of the minor cuts and bruises have already faded away, leaving small scars behind. Given time, those too should vanish.

"So, now what?" Eliezer asks.

"Now, we wait." I answer.

**…**

He isn't sure how much time passes—hours, days, months—but he is aware that the pain is gradually waning. Soft concerned voices wash over him like water but his ears are ringing to loudly for him to make out the words, but he does know that, wherever he is, he is safe.

For now.

Darkness takes him hostage once more.

**…**

"So, what happened to him?" Truk asks, gesturing to broken man lying in the middle of the floor.

"He decided to run across the river and take on the Jackals."

"Not the brightest bulb in the box, is he?" Truk smirks jokingly and motions to Khan.

"No, not even close." I smile and lean casually against the wall.

"So, who do you think he is? I mean, tourists aren't usually all that great at figuring out our traditions or whatever, but they, at least, can figure out why we don't go into the forest."

"You're here," I smirk mischievously, "As am I and the boys."

"True," The humor dies from his eyes and he sighs, "But you don't exactly have a choice, do you?"

I shake my head. "No. Not really."

"So," Truk swallows nervously and nods to Khan, "Will he be alright?"

"Looks like it. Most of his wounds have healed but…"

"But what?"

But what if this guy_ is_ dangerous, I want to ask. What if he _is_ a murderer and he _is_ a criminal? What if he wakes up and goes into some kind of unbridled rage and kills us all? This man is dangerous, his very presence seems to radiate with that undeniable fact. Maybe I should have left him out to die...it may have been better for us if I had.

Or maybe I'm just being paranoid.

**…**

His eyes flicker slightly: bright, white light burns his icy blue retinas and he squeezes them shut instantly. Inhale. Exhale. Slowly he opens his eyes in a squint and keeps the rest of his body frozen in place. He sees the girl and a human boy talking quietly three feet away. He can hear the two smaller boys running around outside, their laughter being carried by the light, chilly breeze.

Winter was coming.

"Do you think he's safe to be around?" The boy asks. "Do you thing he's dangerous, Ze'eva? Why do you think he was even out by the river? Do you think he did it on purpose—do you think he wanted to die?"

"Truk." Khan sees her shake her head at the boy. "He's not from around here. Chances are, he didn't even know about the Jackals."

"But you didn't say that you believed he was safe to be around. You didn't say that you thought he wasn't dangerous."

"Is anyone safe to be around these days? Are _we_ 'not dangerous'?" She counters. "If he_ does_ mean us harm, I can fend for myself—it wouldn't be the first time that I've had to fight for my life, Truk." She puts a hand on his shoulder. "We'll be fine: I promise."

The boy stares at her for a moment and Khan wonders whether or not Truk believes her before Truk sighs and shakes his head sadly. "Alright, just be careful, okay?" He gives Ze'eva a light hug. "I don't want my wing-man to get her wings clipped." A light smile and happy brown eyes.

"Hey, do you think you could buy some more med equipment with my share and some books for us?"

"Yeah," Truk shrugs. "Of, course. Hey, my mom can probably even make you a few quilts, and some pies, or whatever. She worries about you guys, you know. Out here all alone and stuff."

"I know, but it's safer for us being here than being in town, you know? Safer for your family and a heck of a lot better for us. If they found us with you guys…" She trails off and a wave of fear washes over both of them.

_Why are they not in school?_

_Why are they not allowed by the normal populace?_

Curiosity pricks Khan's chest but he pushes it away. Pointless riddles held no place for him right now; what he needed was his crew—nothing more. Stubbornly, he forces his eyes to close and his face to relax to give the illusion that he is sleeping.

It doesn't take long after that for the boy to leave and Khan can hear Ze'eva turn to stare at him, her blue-green eyes burning into him but he has trained himself by now not to flinch or give himself away. It would be better for him to think he was sleeping; then he could do a swift surprise attack and escape in his time.

**...**

"I know you're awake, Khan." She says.

He opens his eyes and smirks; "What gave me away?"

"You were too still, your pulse too fast, and your breathing was too regular and not quite deep enough."

He raises an eyebrow and sits up.

"You've also been fidgeting in your sleep, your heartbeat was elevated—probably from an adrenaline rush—when you awoke just now, and your breathing had a habit of catching or being too shallow when you were unconscious and now it's normal."

"My, you are observative." He says sarcastically and rolls his eyes.

"It's my job: I work search and rescue."

"But if your people were to see you they would kill you without a second's hesitation despite how many of their lives you've saved."

"It's complicated."

"Is it?"

"Yes, and I seriously doubt a man of your intellectual level would be able to keep up."

"Oh, really now?" His voice is cold and hard like ice. "Is that so?"

"You ran straight into a pack of genetically engineered Jackals; if you aren't suicidal, then you most certainly are more than a little slow."

"These are brave words from such one so young and untried."

"They are words of experience. How are you feeling?"

He glares at her: "I am fine." He stand and stalks past her and marches to the right of the cave.

"Wrong." Ze'eva says loudly. Khan looks over his shoulder.

"Excuse me?" He stalks towards her and lowers his face until their noses are inches apart, his blue eyes stabbing into hers, but she does not look away or back up: she glares right on back before placing her hands roughly on his shoulders and pushing him away. He allows himself to be moved but he does not break his gaze from hers, not even once.

"Wrong way." She points to the narrow trail behind him. "The village is that way and don't let the pines crush your on the way out."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

She is trailing him. Her presence permeates the air and whispers on the wind although she herself stays well out of sight—a wise decision.

"I know you are there." Khan says quietly but she does not come out.

_Whatever,_ he rolls his eyes. What is a _child's_ game to him? Let her follow; it's not like he's planning mass homicide. He'll buy a ship and fly away—doing nothing to arouse suspicion or concern. She'll grow bored and forget about their chance encounters.

Her mother was a pawn in the grand scheme of the things and so is she. What he needs to look out for are the Castles (Sector 31): the movers and shakers of the Star Trek fleet before he moves on to kill the (Star Fleet captains and their crew), and finally destroy their King: Admiral Marcus. This child was nothing more than an irritating mosquito that has already out-stayed its welcome. She gave him food and medical care but now she had outlived her usefulness.

"When you fly off." Her hears her sharp voice snap to his right. He turns and there she is, leaning casually against a pine tree. "There is a large Star Fleet ship that will attack anything that tries to leave the atmosphere and there's also a huge meteor belt around this planet as well that has been known to destroy its own fair share of spacecraft. Be careful and good riddance." She turns to leave.

"Why help me?"

She looks at him over her shoulder and shrugs. "Why not?"

"You think I am dangerous and pose a threat to your family."

"All the more reason to insure that you're as far away from them as humanly possible. The way I saw it, that left only two options. One of them was that you leave of your own accord and put some distance between us and you." Again she goes to leave and again Khan stops her with a question.

"And the other?"

"I bury you."

**…**

Khan laughs at me then as though this is the funniest thing he has ever heard: a rail-thin teenager girl threaten to kill a muscular adult man? Right, good luck with that. That and he probably didn't believe me, but I was completely and totally serious. If it had come between him and my brothers, I'd choose the boys first chance I got. In a way we were similar, he and I. He had his unspoken mission and it was ripping him to shreds. Mentally, he was fraying at the edges; his insecurities and pain warping into an uncontrollable wildfire of rage that will kill any who venture too near.

My rage was extinguished years ago and replaced by a thick grey veil of smokey terror. He can murder who he wants when he wants—as long as we aren't on the menu, I will have no reason to harm him. My mission is survival: his is vengeance—that was easy enough to see: the stiff posture, the waves of cold cruelty, the barely suppressed rage and violence.

Yeah, he was definitely going to kill someone.

But I was going to make sure it wasn't us.

I can feel his icy gaze stabbing into my back as I walk away but I refuse to acknowledge him. What point would a stare down prove—that I'm not afraid to look him in the eyes? We've already established that. All it would do was to waste both of our time. The faster he left the better.

"Goodbye!" I shout and then break into a wild gated run before smoothing it out.

It's high time to see a man about a gun.

**…**

Khan smirks. Well, at least he has an idea of what to expect when leaving. He's half tempted to run after the girl and invite her along. She's clearly intelligent and calculating, but she'd never leave her family and if he were to bring them along, the boys would slow him down. Besides, he's never been overly fond of children, anyway. Chances are she'd irritate him and push him off the emotional ledge.

And then he'd kill her.

Literally.

Ze'eva was a curious creature, but some things are meant to survive on the fringes of society, and she'd already got it in her head that she's one of them. He'll have to carry on his mission alone.

**…**

A few hours later, he's in one of the villages. There are ship but they cost more than what Khan currently has. He could steal a ship but that would draw attention to him and, if Sector 31 hasn't already figured out that he's on this godforsaken planet, it will send them running to investigate, giving him a smaller window of precious time.

That would not be good.

"What do you propose?" Khan inquires, tilting his head slightly to the side to better examine the owner.

"You work for me for a week, and the ship is yours."

Khan's eyes narrow and then he nods slightly; his family was counting on him. "Fine."

For a week he labors like a dog in a crowed factory before finally getting his reward and putting thousands of miles between him and Ze'eva. She wanted him gone—he wouldn't dream disappointing her. Besides, he had a little matter to discuss with Admiral Marcus, but first he had to go Kronos.

**...**

Two years later.

The ship growls beneath him as it cuts neatly through the black night like a hot steak knife through room temperature butter. Finally, all those years of planning are about to pay off. His weapon glows red as he aims it into the room of unarmed Star Fleet Captains and their first officers. Someone shouts out an alarm, but it is too late for most of them to run to safety. The room glares red as he fires into it over and over again.

His prey screams and runs as the bodies of their friends litter the ground.

One young man manages to cripple his ship and as it spirals downwards and Khan begins to warp away, he gives the man a cold and calculated gaze. Khan will make him pay dearly for this night—but his main goal has been accomplished. A small smile fleetly touches his lips. Let's see just how well the Admiral can bounce back from that. He wants to threaten his family?

Well, two could play that game.

And Khan was going to win.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**Years later.**

"Khan Noonien Singh, how do you plead?"

Icy blue eyes glare about it him at the weaker beings who await eagerly for his answer. His stomach boils in silent rage—like it would _matter_ what he says anyway. This entire 'trail' is set up so that he will fail. No matter _what_ he says or _what_ evidence is presented, he will still be found guilty of destroying over half of downtown San Francisco in the crash with the USS Vengeance, kill and Star Fleet Admiral, and attacking unarmed captains and their first officers.

He and his entire crew will be slaughtered merciless by the worms.

And he, yet again, is at the mercy of mere dogs.

Khan sneers and bares his teeth at the judge, and when he speaks his voice is low and cold, "Does it matter?" His cold voice slices into the room like a knife and the hearts of the onlookers skip a collective beat. "Does it matter what I say, _your honor_?" He spits out the last two words as if they were something disgusting and loathsome and glares angrily at the man in front of him who squirms uncomfortably under Khan's cruel scrutiny. "Why don't you just skip the prelude and pull the trigger..._sir_?"

Shockwaves reverberate in the air and no one says a word. All eyes rest on the judge who swallows uncomfortably, his pale face bleeding into a deep red from embarrassment.

"Let's take a ten minute recess." He whimpers and the gavel cracks hard against the wooden desk and everyone rises as one and rushes out of the room to escape the awkward atmosphere that now hangs over the courtroom like a lead blanket.

**…**

"This isn't right." The blond captain murmurs to his Vulcan second-in-command.

"I fail to see your logic, Captain: Khan is nothing short of a monster, who will stop at nothing to once again be in possession of his crew and will do whatever he deems necessary to get them back—including mass murder."

"But you know as well as everyone else that he was set up to fail: is it right that we should sit by and watch him get executed? You know as well as I do that he would be found guilty, Spock."

Spock groans inwardly. Had he been human, he would have grabbed Jim by the shirt and shaken him until some common sense finally made its way into his thick skull.

For the life of him, Spock could never really understand why Jim can be so passionate by some things: especially morality. Wouldn't it be better _logically_ if Khan were no longer in existence? His mere presence in this rural city puts every_one_ and every_thing_ at risk.

Should the Augment escape, Spock estimates that millions would perish in the aftermath. What is one life lost for the benefit many, and why can't Jim see past his own blind emotions to the logical solution? Khan is just too dangerous to be kept alive.

Would it really be so bad if he were to be killed for his crimes?

He blew up the archives, attacked unarmed Star Fleet officers, killed the Admiral _and_ Kirk, including many of the Enterprise's crew, and destroyed most of downtown San Francisco; they are _still_ trying to fix all the destruction Khan has caused.

Spock tells his captain this but Kirk simply shakes his head sadly.

"I know, Spock." He says; his voice is quiet and filled with sorrow. "But he did it all to ensure his _family's safety_. If you could go back to the day that the planet Vulcan was destroyed, wouldn't you do anything to save your mother's life?"

Spock's chest squeezes painfully but he allows none of the turmoil within to show on his features. "I do not know, captain." Spock says softly and his head whirls chaotically.

Khan was a monster; of this Spock had no doubt.

Khan was killer: created by savage men with wild ambitions, raised in cruelty, and refined through the harsh ashes of war. Rage and pain are the Augment knows, and even if he were to get his family back, Khan would make it his personal mission to kill each and every Star Fleet member, targeting the Enterprise and everyone on board first and foremost for capturing him in the first place.

The last time, they were able to bring Kirk back and Spock seriously doubts that they will be so lucky a second time.

"He should at least be given a fair trial." Kirk continues. "Everyone wants him dead, and that's exactly what he is going to be. Khan was right: why bother with the court case if they're only going to put a bullet in him anyway?"

Spock opens his mouth to reply but someone cuts him off, screaming that the recess has just ended. Wordlessly the pair looks to one another and nod before trickling back in along with the others.

This was going to be a long day.

**…**

"Have you decided what to plead yet, Mr. Singh?" The judge looks at Khan down his noise and Khan simply stares coolly back at him. _Does it really matter,_ Khan thinks wryly. He sighs and shakes his head angrily.

"Not guilty." He growls.

If they were going to drag this out then he may as well try to buy himself as much time as possible. If he's lucky, one of the guards will eventually slip up and allow him to escape and save his family. By pleading not guilty, he's bought himself at least a few more weeks or months... if he's lucky.

But luck has never been on his side.

"Very well." The gavel slams down and a people rise to their feet before quickly sitting back down. "On the next court hearing the attorneys will be presenting their evidence." The judge narrows his beady little eyes at Khan.

Had the situation not been so serious Khan would have laughed in the old man's face. A frail human trying to dominate an Augment? The action itself warranted a few trips to the psych ward, or, at least, whatever pieces of the frail human that remained whenever he or one of his crew got through with the offender. To threaten an Augment was the equivalent of suicide: to threaten the king of the Augments…well, Marcus found out the hard way just what happens to such men.

"For your sake, Mr. Khan, I sure hope you have a few aces up your sleeves," The man mutters so that only Khan could hear him. Khan narrows his eyes and his face goes stormy. "Alright." The judge raises his voice loudly so that everyone else in the room can hear him. "Court dismissed."

Without a single word everyone stands as one and begins to leave: everyone that is, but Captain Kirk and Spock. They remain standing by their seats and watch as heavily armed guards roughly drag Khan to his feet and then kick him brutally in the ribs to force him outside and into the armored transport van that will lock him away where no one can his screams as he waits for the next court date and all the others that lead up to his inevitable doom.

Cold blue eyes glance back behind him only to be kicked savagely in the face and propelled forward but not before locking onto Kirk's own eyes. Kirk straightens slightly and wills the man to be strong.

Kirk can't explain how or even why—it is just a _gut feeling_—but he knows that killing the man, even if he is truly an abomination and a monster, will change nothing. He may be a murderer but even _he_ deserves a second chance—right? Besides, a seed has already been firmly rooted in the depths of Kirk's mind and he will not allow the man to be slaughtered without a fight. This man has gone his entire life with just about everyone fighting against him rather than for him, trying to take his life rather than save it.

Kirk was going to save this man: whether Spock liked it or not.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"And why have you come here, _captain_? Have you come back to punch me over and over until your arm weakens?" Khan snarls, jumping to his feet and walking up to the glass wall until it is mere inches from his nose. "Because I think your _friends _have already beaten you to it." His fist slams into the wall but the glass does not shatter.

Kirk stands in front of his greatest opponent and can only gaze at him with bewilderment and pity to see him brought so low: his face and arms are littered with bruises and minor scratches, his left arm clutches his ribs, and he walks with a slight limp, swaying weakly as he moves as though he will fall the the ground at any moment. He looks thinner than Kirk originally remembers him being as though he has not eaten in days and dark bags have formed under his eyes…but surely they wouldn't have deprived him of food? Of sleep?

Anger surges through Kirk's chest at the Augment's obvious mistreatment, but he can't say that Khan doesn't deserve it. Despite what his gut is telling him, Spock is right; the man is cold blooded murderer, after all.

But that does mean he should be treated this way.

"How are doing, Khan?"

"Just wonderful, _captain. Really._ I do so _enjoy_ my daily beatings." Khan says sarcastically before turning his back to Kirk and walking forward a few steps and sitting down lotus style. Kirk sighs and stares at the back of Khan's head.

"I'm sorry about that—really."

"Are you now, _captain_?" Khan rises to once again fix Kirk in his icy glare but Kirk stares back at him calmly.

A flash of hopelessness and sorrow lights up Khan's features for a second and Kirk almost would have thought he'd imagined it had Khan not said, "Please. Just leave," before once again turning away from him and sitting dejectedly on the cold floor, his head bowing slightly as if this place had robbed the man of his oversized ego.

Kirk hesitates ever so slightly before turning abruptly on his heel and striding away. His mind is screaming furiously and fraying over so slightly at the edges. Khan is the strongest man in the world—as well as the most arrogant. Something in the young captain snaps.

How dare they?

Sure, he was an awful person and maybe he deserved death, but_ how dare_ they treat him this way? Kirk didn't care what he did; Khan at least had a right to live out his last days with at least a little dignity and no fear that he'd be attacked the moment he let his guard down.

He was manipulative, he was cruel, and he was dangerous…

But he was human.

Khan felt pain, and loss, and he cared about his family to the point of obsession. Kirk knew what it was like to have his back against the wall and his crew's lives in peril, and he knew just how desperate he felt when it was _his_ actions dictating whether they would survive to see another sunrise or perish mercilessly. The Admiral had thrown them both in that position and he obviously didn't care about the lives that he would end...just thinking how much worse had he treated the Augment made Kirk wince inwardly. He could emphasize with wanting to protect loved ones and people he had the responsibility to take care of.

Why he was he only one that could see that, despite Khan's cold exterior, he wasn't really as monstrous as everyone was thinking.

He was just broken.

And desperate.

...And terrified.

**…**

One court day flies by and then another, all of them ending in an undecided jury. Each time Khan is brought before the court, he looks even thinner and weaker than the last. He trembles slightly as though even standing to give his testimony is an impossible feat.

But no one cares.

Kirk looks at Khan worriedly and even Spock can feel disgust rising inside of him at Khan's physical appearance.

His hair is messy and dirtied.

His eyes blackened.

Limping.

Injured.

In obvious pain but too prideful to ask for help.

Or maybe...maybe he's not allowed to. By opening his mouth and forcing himself to shed his pride, even for a second, and appeal to what he considers weaker beings and lying his heart on the line, he'd probably just make things worse...and add gasoline to an already large fire.

His cold eyes glare threateningly at the people in the room as though daring them to pity him, but all his eyes find are barely concealed rage and hatred from the onlookers. Only Kirk and Spock seem remotely worried about him: Khan doesn't look at them. He turns back to the judge, eyes narrowed.

"Well?" He spits. "The verdict?"

The judge smiles slight, a smile void of warmth or happiness: "Guilty."

All the color drains from Khan's face and Kirk can feel his stomach getting queasy as butterflies seem to jump up out of his stomach acid and viciously attack his intestines.

Spock himself feels a small pang of anxiety and quickly pushes it away, allowing Vulcan indifference to once again take hold.

_A guilty verdict is only logical._

_Khan's death is logical._

_But was Kirk right? Was this immoral? Was the principle itself…wrong? No._ Spock pushes the thought away quickly. He had a trail, which is more than he deserved, especially after killing his best friend.

"And the punishment?" Khan's voice is barely more audible than that a breath, a butterfly wing gently vibrating the still air.

The judge says nothing for a moment. He merely stares at Khan, his beady eyes glinting in the bright lights. Cameras lock onto his face, showing the world what is taking place among these walls. The entire world holding its collective breath as they wait for the word "execution" to reverberate in the air and to be cheered in the streets. The cruel man finally put to sleep like the animal he really was.

But the judge says nothing.

"Well?" Khan prompts, his eyes narrowing more as his disdain for the man rises. "What's wrong? Are your mental capabilities so _low_ that you cannot read a single piece of parchment? Do you acquire assistance, _your honor_?"

Again the man smiles. "I am perfectly capable Mr. Singh." He pauses. "And your verdict has been decided." Khan rolls his eyes: he already knew that! Imbecile! "You are to be rehabilitated."

_What?_

Khan's heart freezes and his breath catches for a second.

Rehabilitated?

This was a cruel joke, wasn't it? Give him a sense of false hope and security before pulling the trigger? Khan analyzes the man carefully as he waits for the true verdict to be declared…but none ever comes. The judge slams his gavel down to tell the court they are dismissed before rising and looking Khan in the eye.

The onlookers scream and yell at him for making what they considered the wrong decision and security forces them outside. Kirk simply smiles and looks to his usually emotionless first-officer to see a look of stunned bewilderment playing across Spock's face.

"Mr. Kirk." The judge calls after security forces everyone but the judge, Khan, Kirk, and Spock from the room. "I am going to be needing your assistance with the rehabilitation process. If you and your first officer would kindly come over here, please."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"Khan will be placed in the care of someone who will help to make him more suitable to live in our society." The judge says softly.

"And just who is this mysterious _'person'_?" Khan growls.

He can already feel the invisible needles burrowing into his skin and the phantom blows landing on his already battered flesh. The judge was going to turn him over to some lunatic who was going to love tormenting Khan for his sins. It wasn't going to be 'rehabilitation,' it was going to be torture—never ending agony.

"A young woman who has fought pretty hard for the Augment cause." The judge says with a wry smile and when he speaks it's as if Khan were the only one in the room. "If not for her or captain Kirk's efforts, I never would have even considered rehabilitation as an option…but they both raised some pretty keen points. She's cleaning up her community and saving lives; I figured it'd be good to put you with your polar opposite. Who knows? Maybe you'll even learn something."

Khan is seething on the inside. Him learn from a _child?_ This judge really was insane. Or suicidal. If it was a death wish the old bird wanted, Khan would be more than happy to crush his skull in for him,

"And her name?" Khan says carefully, keeping his irritation locked up inside him.

"Ze'eva Harrison." The old man says lightly before slapping a hand down onto Khan's shoulder. He flinches slight before cocking his head to side as he thinks about the name.

He's heard that name somewhere before.

Ze'eva… Where has he…oh.

_No._

_This _cannot_ be happening._

**…**

They say nothing during the time it takes them to get from Earth to Ze'eva's planet. A thin, silver collar rests securely around Khan's neck and he tugs at it lightly in irritation. A shock collar. He is superior to the human race in every way imaginable and they decide to punish him like a common dog. To add insult to the injury, a _mere child _is to be his warden.

_Oh fate, thou truly art fickle_, Khan thinks.

**…**

"Hello!" Kirk yells as he raps impatiently on the door. "Anyone here—?" His words are cut off as a small explosion sounds and a cloud of smoke seeps under the doorway. "Get back!" Kirk yells before unceremoniously diving into the bushes. Spock and Khan take a single step back, share a look, and then turn their gazes back to the doorway as running footsteps can be heard inside. The door swooshes open and a woman with short black hair and watering brown eyes gasps in the doorway.

"What are you doing blowing stuff up, Ze'eva?! You know people are coming by! What? Are you trying to get out of this thing by _suicide?!_ There are better ways! Just say 'no'!"

"Hi…" Kirk says awkwardly and the girl whips around, her mouth making a large O of surprise. "I'm captain James Tiberius Kirk and you are…?"

"I'm …uh…well…"

"Just tell him that you're awesome!" A girl coughs from inside. "It usually gets a good enough laugh." Another girl walks up beside the other. She smiles slightly and nods to the men. She has pale white skin, long dark hair that's not quite brown and not quite black, and large blue-green eyes and is covered from head to toe in black ashes."'Sup?" She addresses the group, tilting her head ever so slightly to the side.

Khan narrows his eyes. "Ze'eva." He says softly.

"That's me. And you are…?" She looks at him carefully but shows no visible signs of recognition. Something inside Khan relaxes ever so slightly. If Star Fleet believes they are meeting for the first time, then they will allow him to stay. The girl may be strange, but she, at least, will treat him relatively well.

If not…he can heal quickly enough.

Besides, she's barely over twenty two, he doubted any injuries she could inflict on his person would cause any significant damage.

"I'd invite you in but..." She looks back at the billowing smoke and shrugs. "Yeah…want to sit on the porch while we wait for the house to air out?" She doesn't wait for a response as she darts inside and begins to flip on the fans before walking back out and sitting casually against the steps.

"So…how's life?" Ze'eva asks and her friend elbows her in the ribcage as red creeps up her face from being associated with the bizarre girl. Had Ze'eva not been nominated to be his new tormentor, he would have found the situation amusing…but all he can think is, why? _Why her?_ She doesn't appear to be dangerous and there is no aura of cruelty surrounding her.

She actually seems…nice.

Kind.

Caring.

A storm of pain rages behind her pale blue-green eyes but otherwise, she seems perfectly happy as though this were a mere social visit and not a prisoner exchange.

**…**

"Well, good luck." Kirk pats the girl lightly on the shoulder and she nods to him. Spock and she exchange a quick Vulcan solute and they leave. "And if you need anything." Kirk presses a piece of paper into her hand. "Just a give me a call." He looks at Khan and shakes his head a little before looking back at her. "Seriously. Don't hesitate." The pair walk away, enter their ship, and leave.

"So, long time no see, huh?" Ze'eva asks him as she walks inside. Her friend stares after her incredulously.

"Wait a minute—you know this guy?!"

**…**

"Okay." She stops outside a door. "This is your room." She says.

Khan walks inside and looks around: a king-sized bed, a few thick blue quilts folded at the right hand corner of his bed, a large window overlooking a blossoming flower garden, a large blue rug covering the cold hard wooden floors, a small and empty dresser, an empty closet, and an adjoining bathroom complete with a toilet, sink, trashcan, mirror, and tub/shower. It isn't much but compared to his cell, it is paradise. He nods at her politely and she nods back at him.

She leans casually against the doorway and inspects her nails for a moment before turning to look at him as though she had forgotten that he had been in there. "Alright, you've got five minutes and then you get the grand tour of the bottom floor."

"And the top floor?" Khan inquires.

"Off limits." A threat lies barely concealed beneath her words.

_Well, at least the first rule has presented itself: no going upstairs._

_That seemed easy enough._

Khan smiles mockingly: "What? You think I'm going to attack you in the dead of the night?" He tugs lightly at the collar around his neck, but she just shakes her head, her eyes still hard and irritated.

"No, I'm having you nowhere near the children—_especially_ the girls and _especially_ at night." She walks away and Khan stares after her retreating form, confusion blooming in his chest.

_Children? _

_Why are children living in this house if a mass murderer has been sentenced to stay here for God knows how long? And what is this woman—a saint? Is she 'saving her community' and also taking in little lost orphans from the streets? What's next? She's curing cancer and single handedly obliterating Global Warming?_

Khan's stomach heaves slightly._ Oh the humanity! It burns!_


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"Okay. Kitchen. My office. Bathroom. Living room. The den. Laundry room. Deck. Got it?" She looks at Khan and he rolls his eyes.

"No." he says sarcastically. "You lost me at 'kitchen'." His lips quirk up into a cold smile.

"Alright. Then let's go through it again—I can make you a map if you want. Okay. Kitcheeen." She says slowly before moving on the next room and the next, each time stopping and drawling out the word as though speaking to a very small and incredibly slow child. "Okay: how about now?"

Khan groans and nods: "Yes. _Perfectly,_" he growls.

He walks away from her to sit in his room. Her friend, 'Cassie', had long since left 'to hide from the maniac Ze'eva was harboring in her home' as she had so eloquently put it, but at least she was honest.

Currently, Ze'eva was in the kitchen preparing a meal. Khan sits in the living room; every sense of his straining out to help him keep track of Ze'eva's location should the kind persona slip and the dark one slip out.

"How many people live in this house?"

"Well, there's me and Truk, the three kids, and my two brothers…my sister used to but…she doesn't now…so, eight, including you, gramps. All the other bedrooms are upstairs so that should give you some more privacy. Dinner is in an hour and they should be home in about forty minutes or so; so, if you want to get yourself settled, now's the time."

Khan stands stiffly and stares at the kitchen door. Weird, she was treating him like a human being rather than a criminal…but it's sure to slip sooner or later. Sector 31 knows these same tricks, and this time, he will not let down his guard. His family still needs him. He will live out this 'rehabilitation' period until the end, get rid of this infernal collar, and once again be reunited with his people.

"I noticed you had no other clothes but the ones that you're wearing. Did Star Fleet provide any more for you? If now, we'll pick some up and some other stuff up for you on the way to work tomorrow. How do you feel about children?"

"T he clothes I am currently wearing are all I have, and I have never harmed a child." He answers smoothly and Ze'eva sighs in response.

"No, that's not what I meant or why I was asking: where I work, just about everyone is under the age of eighteen; if you don't particularly like kids, then it's going to be a long day for you. There's a small notepad in the drawer beside your right arm: go ahead and right out some things you'll be needing. You know: toothbrush, clothes, hair brush…"

Khan feels a pang of irritation flaring up in his chest at being ordered around by such an inferior being but it can't be helped. Besides, he owes the kid a debt. If not for her and—Khan shudders inwardly—_captain_ Kirk, he would be dead right now.

Angrily, he scoops the small notepad out and begins to stab out the bare essentials into the flimsy papers. When he's done, he tosses it unceremoniously onto the couch before stomping to his room and slamming the door.

He refuses to be treated like a child.

**…**

He can hear the door slam open and exited voices split the air painfully.

Sharp high pitched squeals of happiness.

Excruciatingly loud laughter.

Young, childish voices shrieking shrilly about their day.

"Hey! How's it going?" A man says. _No,_ Khan tilts his head slightly to the left. He's barely more than a boy—_this must be her friend from before, 'Truk'_. The child from the caves. "Is he here, yet?" Truk asks and Khan knows without being told that the boy is talking about him.

"Yeah—in his room."

"Are you sure that this is a good idea letting him stay here around the children…? I mean…isn't it kind of…you know, dangerous? Won't he go ballistic and kill someone, Ze'eva?"

"Nah, he's actually a hugger, not a fighter. Who knew, right?" Ze'eva says jokingly and Khan hears Truk snort with laughter.

"Right." The boy laughs. "Okay, I'll get the kids washed for dinner; see you in a few."

"Okay."

Footsteps walk past his door and Khan can hear the children chatting excitedly. Well, if there are kids here, at least Khan won't be harmed in their presence. He wasn't quite sure yet how to think of Ze'eva, but he knew without a shadow of a doubt that she would not allow anything to happen to this kids—not even psychological trauma, if she could help it.

"Alright, old timer." Ze'eva bangs twice on his door. "Food."

He hears her walking away and resists the urge to roll his eyes.

_And so it begins,_ he thinks.

His first day of hell.

**…**

The food itself wasn't that impressive: breaded chicken, salad, and rolls, but it was more than he had eaten in weeks. Thanks to his Augmented genes, he could go a long time without eating and at least a week without water, and his previous keepers had had no qualms about exploiting that. He felt weak piling his plate high and gulping down the substance but he gulped the food down anyway and then went for seconds.

Embarrassment flooded his system but no one commented on his large food intake-not even the kids.

"Mom, who's this?" A little girl says. And Khan's head swivels to look at Ze'eva who is looking at the girl carefully.

"This is Khan." She says lightly. "And he's going to be our guest for a while, Elsa."

"Is he our uncle? Like Uncle Eli?" The other girl says quickly and Khan's eyes widen slightly in surprise; he had not noticed that the girls are identical twins: exactly the same physically if not for their eyes.

Are these all Ze'eva's kids? Two girls: about three years of age, long dark hair, pale white skin, one with blue eyes, and the other with green. A small boy looking exactly like a miniature version of Truk but with Ze'eva's eyes: curly brown hair, freckles, blue-green eyes, and pale skin.

Why would she choose to have him, _of all people_, around her family?

"No, he's not your uncle." Ze'eva says kindly. "He's just staying here for a while so he can learn to be normal."

The blued eyed girl, Elsa, smiles widely: "But you aren't normal."

Ze'eva smiles back, "I'm too awesome to conform to society."

Truk shakes his head slightly. "Right… 'awesome'." He chuckles and despite himself, Khan feels an amused grin forcing its way onto his face and thankfully no one notices.

"Hey, come at me." Ze'eva challenges as she stands up and takes her plate into the kitchen. Truk washes the dishes and Ze'eva leads the three-year-olds upstairs to get washed and ready for bed.

**…**

The house is quiet now. The children are sleeping and Ze'eva and Truk are talking quietly upstairs. Khan lies on top of his bed, his eyes boring into the ceiling. This was a more than strange day…but he feels better than he has in weeks...and it wasn't just the food that made him feel better.

He didn't relieve just how lonely he had felt or how it felt to be part of family, even if he was just living on the fringes and walking on. And now he has food in his belly and a warm bed rather than starvation and the cold cement floor. Slowly, his eyelids begin to flutter shut and he pulls a quilt over him just as exhaustion finally breaks through and buries him in blissful oblivion.

He could get used to this.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

The next day, it's eggs, toast, and oatmeal. The children watch him curiously but only the green eyed girl is brave enough to hold his icy gaze, and like her mother, she does it with an amused smile. Khan breaks the stare off and shakes his head. How can he go from blood thirsty dictator one minute to have staring contest with small children the next?

"Ready?" Ze'eva asks, her blue-green eyes looking at Khan expectantly. He blinks in surprise. R_eady? Ready for what…? Oh. Right. She has to go to work._

"I suppose." Khan says carefully and she nods.

He stares at her and she sighs before saying, "This is the part where we leave. You know, go outside."

Standing slowly, he makes sure to tower over her and glare at her before striding purposely out the door with a second look.

"Man, diva much?" Ze'eva mutters under her breath before jogging past him and racing into the forest.

Without a second's hesitation, Khan springs after her and races through the trees. This place reminds him slightly of earth. The trees look exactly like pine trees except they have white-gray trunks and vibrant blue needles. They have two moons (both of which are currently full) and the grass is navy blue, the water is crystal clear instead of murky.

Even the very air seems cleaner.

A fresh start.

**...**

She runs faster, leaving a small trail of white dust trailing after her before jumping agilely into a small ship with the words "WOLFSONG" painted in navy blue on top of the silver wing. Khan leaps in after her and immediately takes the co-pilot's chair. Ze'eva slips a seat belt on and looks at him sternly until he does the same.

Inwardly he is rolling his eyes.

He is an Augment, like he needs a seatbelt!

But he puts it on obediently and becomes almost statue-like as Ze'eva fires up the systems and throws them in the air, and Khan's spine, earlier ram rod straight, flies into the back of his seat and his fingers grip the armrests. The girl laughs at him.

"Told you that you'd need the belt. Okay, first stop, the store and then onward to work."

**…**

Okay…

I read over the list one more time and try to figure out anything else he'd need. Here's what he has: a jacket (black), 5 shirts (black), 5 jeans (black), socks (black), underwear, hair brush, toothbrush, tooth paste, shoes (preferably _black_ combat boots, I note with a glance at his feet on which he wears scruffy black combat boots that look as if they are going to fall apart at any moment), a belt (black), shampoo, deodorant (oh, yeah. I am _not_ forgetting deodorant), and hair gel.

_Wow, this guy really likes the color black..._

_And why the hair gel?!_

I roll my eyes. You know what, forget it.

_Whatever. __As long as it's not a phaser, it should be okay._

Alright, I need to add a backpack, flashlight, notebook, pencils, and maybe a PADD with multiple literary works on it to keep him relatively entertained to the list and we're good to go.

It doesn't take long to gather up all the supplies and within ten minutes we're back out and on the road again. I still can't believe they didn't supply him with any extra clothes—jerks. Well, there's no point lingering on the past.

It'll only make matters worse. Look where it got San Fran.

**…**

We arrive at my work: an old abandoned Sector 31 base built into the side of a cliff. Khan stiffens visibly upon seeing the structure but says nothing. I can almost feel the revulsion and distrust coming off of him in waves and every muscle in his body seems to be screaming at him to run.

"Don't worry. Sector 31 doesn't exist here anymore—we ran them off. Legally, we own this building and Sector 31 can never return to the planet. Ever." I try to reassure him but he only seems to get more suspicious.

"And what, _exactly_." His voice has gone hard and cold but I can hear how hard it is for him to get the words out. "Do _you_ do here? Torture small animals?" His voice is venomous and his hands quiver with barely controlled rage.

_What did they _do_ to this guy?_

"Search and rescue." I say instantly and he lifts a disbelieving eyebrow at me so I go on. "Tensions with the Klingons and Star Fleet are high; so more often than not, villages and small cities are caught in the crossfire and pretty much obliterated. We go in and get the survivors to administer immediate medical aid and try to find somewhere else that they can locate to." I decided to give him the textbook answer instead of watering down the information. To make it seem less harsh would be to lie, and this guy has been lied to enough already, and it certainly hasn't helped his mental state. "Typically, they bury their own dead:it's a die-hard tradition which makes one less job for us to do."

"And Star Fleet?"

"They help us in the relocating process and used to help us with administering medical aid; however, the locals don't trust them and neither than I." Again, the eyebrow lifts but this time it's in surprise. "So, this organization was set up independently of Star Fleet to cut them out of the equation and make our planet a bit more self sufficient. The organization isn't very big yet—it's still in the grassroots stage—but it's growing little by little. Ready to go in?" I lean lightly against the wing of the ship and stare at him: he has yet to move from the doorway of the ship. "Seriously, I need to go and I'm not leaving you out here alone."

"What?" He says sarcastically, his tone low and dangerous. "You don't trust me?"

"No more than I can throw you, Khan, and you look pretty heavy." He seems to be about twenty pounds or so underweight…but I seriously doubt that I can lift him. He doesn't argue with me and walks stiffly over towards me and looks at the door quizzically.

"Then lead the way." He growls threateningly.

Boy, I've stood my ground against Cataclysms and Sector 31; you really sure you want to challenge me?

I raise an eyebrows at him and remain where I'm standing. We stare intently at each other for the next five minutes, each willing the other to back down before Khan finally shakes his head in irritation, consequently losing the stare-down by default.

"Follow me." I order and turn my back on him, walking coolly away.

He gives a huff of irritation and walks so close to me that the toes of his shoes scrape the heels of mine with every step that I take. _This is going to be an incredibly long day. Would it be morally wrong if I just kill him and claim that it was an accident? After all, everyone wants him dead anyway..._

_'Oh, Admiral. I don't know what happened...the phaser...it had a life of its own. Oh, it's so awful...'_

"How many people are in this organization of yours?" He asks but I ignore him. He repeats his question and again it is met with stony silence. If he wants to walk on the back of my shoes, then he must not want an answer that bad. Finally, he stops moving but I continue to walk forward.

"Where are we going?" He asks.

"The medbay."

"Why?"

"You need a medical examination: why else, _genius_?"

**…**

Khan glares at her during the physical but she seems unfazed. If anything, she's bored out of her mind. Finally, the medic (a ten year old Vulcan girl with short black hair and honey colored eyes) steps away from him and look expectantly at Ze'eva.

"So?" Ze'eva prompts.

"He is definitely twenty five pounds under weight, severely dehydrated, and has multiple minor wounds. I recommend bed rest, lots of fluids, and fatty foods, but he'd also benefit greatly from consuming lots of foods containing nutrition and vitamins—especially vitamin C. Being underweight, his immune system won't be working as well and there's a higher probability of getting ill. I recommend no strenuous exercises until he gains at least ten pounds."

"Thanks, Alieth. I'll leave him in your capable care, then." Ze'eva turns to look Khan. "There's a cot over there that you can rest in and there are multiple things that you can drink. Just ask _nicely_ and I'm sure the medical staff won't mind too much."

_The medical staff consisting of ten children that will rule over him while his warden runs off to play with the other kids,_ Khan thinks ruefully. _Not a single person in the medbay seems to be over the age of twelve. __Oh, how far the mighty have truly fallen. He should be dominating these children, not taking orders from them!_

"And if I don't?" Khan sneers.

"Then your body will continue to deteriorate and if Sector 31 decides to make a reappearance, then you'll be all the worse for it." Ze'eva answers calmly and Khan scowls at her. "I'll be back in about four hours and we'll get some lunch. Have a wonderful day, and if you don't rest, they have my full permission to drug your sorry butt until you can't see straight for weeks. So go ahead, make my day, Khan." She raises an eyebrow at him before walking calmly away.

Khan has never wanted to kill someone more than he wanted to kill her at that moment.

Even Admiral Marcus.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

She really wasn't kidding about the drugs. The moment Ze'eva left Khan had stared after her retreating form with narrowed eyes and one of the nurses made to grab a hypo-spray. With a sigh he walked over to the cot and laid down on it with his arms crossed behind his head. The Vulcan medic, inspected him earlier, Alieth, walked over and carefully put an IV into his left arm but made no move to inject anything into his IV line. For that he was almost grateful.

Almost.

For hours he glares up at the ceiling, occasionally drifting in and out of sleep. The medics say nothing to him and he nothing to them. It was boring but it was better than court. He didn't have to wait for his inevitable doom to be thrust upon him by a pack of vermin.

Here, he was safe, or, at least, as safe he could hope for.

No one was trying to take his life or glaring at him with hatred radiating out every cell in their bodies. There were no beatings or enemies lying in just around the corner. The children were wary of him, sure, but the acted like one would around a wild animal.

Cautious.

Careful.

Afraid.

And he didn't really blame them.

"How old are you?" Khan asks casually and Alieth looks at him carefully as though trying to find some hidden sinister purpose behind his words.

"I am eleven Earth years old."

"And where is your family?"

"My family is deceased and what of yours?"

Sadness slices through him but he meets her question head on. "They have been cryogenically frozen and still remain in that state today."

"To use human vernacular: that stinks."

Khan nods. "Yes. Yes it does."

**…**

I run from station to station. I'm slightly ADD so it's better for me to work at a variety of jobs rather than the same one for an extended amount of time. Within three hours I've gone through Engineering, visited the injured in the medbay opposite to where Khan is being kept, dropped into the Tacticians office (comprised only of three others besides me and I'm over both of them), and talked with great length to the other pilots.

All in all, only twenty people work here.

Yeah, we're not just small; we're nearly nonexistent.

Maybe it's about time to fix that.

But first…

**…**

"So," Ze'eva walks back into the medbay and heads straight to Khan. "Have a good nap?" She eyes the IV critically as though trying to discern whether or not they decided to follow through with her threat.

"I am fine."

"Great, let's eat." She walks away as Alieth takes the IV out of his arm and puts a small bandage over the small hole in his flesh. Khan catches up with her easily.

"And what is on the menu?" His voice is full of scorn.

"Guess you'll have to wait and find out, huh?"

**…**

Turkey subs, salads, half an orange, orange juice, and a bag of chips.

He could get used to this.

They eat in silence. All around them others chatter quietly and glance their way curiously but none approach or seem remotely hostile. So far, so good.

"What now?" He asks and then a portion of the wall lights up blue and flashes three times.

"I got to go. You stay here and finish your meal. When you are done, go back to the medbay and get more sleep. And drink all your juice." He rolls his eyes at her. "I mean it. You need to gain some weight, beanpole."

He waits a moment before following after her. He'd already eaten his fill, and besides, this was far more interesting than the ceiling.

**…**

"So, what've we got this time?" I rush into the monitor room quickly look at the screens.

"Another Klingon attack. This time Southeast of the compound." Tom tells me. He's roughly nine years old, has dark brown eyes, and an explosion of freckles peppering his skin.

"Any survivors?" I ask.

"Unknown." Tom says, turning back to the monitor in front of him.

"Alright, get me a bird in the air and eyes on the ground. Scan the ruins for any signs of life and tell the medics to be ready just in case. Are Klingons still in the area?" I ask.

"No, they vacated five minutes ago and we've got a bird following them to make sure they don't come back."

"Great job, Tom; nice foresight. Tell the bird to stay with them. Their home planet is roughly five days away from here even at warp speed. That must mean they have a base of operations somewhere close. Tell our ship to follow them there and then split. We'll smoke the Klingons out and destroy the base later. Right now, let's see if anyone made it in the village." I look from one screen to the next. "Who do we have in the air?"

"_Ravenclaw_ and _Bearfang_." _Ravenclaw_ was designed for speed and agility whereas _Bearfang _was a cargo plane: slow and compact. It could take a hit but took forever to get anywhere. The _Ravenclaw_ could carry up to ten people inside it; _Bearfang_ could easily accommodate at least forty. Both had a crew of four: one pilot, two medics, and an engineer.

"Switch _Bearfang_ out with _Runningfawn_."

"What why?"

It would be unlikely that many would survive the attack; the Klingons were fast an efficient. All of the survivors could fit onto a small ship so we wouldn't be needed that much room, making the _Bearfang_ obsolete. _Runningfawn_ was fast and sleek like the _Wolfsong_ and _Ravenclaw_ and could eat up the miles.

What I need is speed and efficiency, not space.

But I don't say that. Instead I say, "I need a ship that can get there and back in a short amount of time. Any survivors will be badly injured and in critical condition. By the time _Bearfang_ gets back, just about any living life forms on it, outside of the crew, may be dead."

Tom nods at this and calls the _Bearfang_ back to HQ. "I hope you're right."

"Have I ever been wrong, Tom?"

The dispatcher looks at me sadly and gives a small shake of his head. "No."

**…**

Khan watches the display quietly. The girl he knew before had completely faded away to be replaced by someone who almost seemed like an Augment. No longer did she slouch; she now stood ram-rod straight with her head high, not lowered. Her voice had lost its playful tone and now took on the hard commanding edge that Khan himself had once used to lead his crew into battle or put them back into line.

And when she talked, people listened and people obeyed.

It wasn't like her and her friend Cassie from yesterday. This was no cheerful game in which they nagged each other and laughed lightly. Her blue-green eyes stared intently onto the screens and not once did she flinch when the fiery devastation lit up the screens.

She truly was an conflicting enigma.

What was this kid?


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

There are only four survivors: all of them children.

The med-bay personnel swarm to take them in and rapidly give the injured oxygen masks, IV, and medications that hopefully will save their lives. Alieth quickly takes charge and soon the chaos has transformed somewhat into order.

Khan watches from a distance as Ze'eva rushes in and dons a scrub shirt and moves in to help. Her and Alieth exchange respectful nods and Ze'eva moves in to start doing chest compressions on an unresponsive patient whose heart had just stopped. Before long, the young girl is back from the dead and most of the others have been stabilized.

"Wow that was a pretty close call." Ze'eva says and Alieth nods in confirmation.

"Affirmative. Had it taken a longer period of time for the ships to arrive, they would all have been dead before arriving here."

"Now aren't you the optimist." Ze'eva says sarcastically. "So, how long until they are conscious do you think? Two hours?"

"Perhaps, but it could be a longer period of time as well."

"Alright, inform me of when they regain consciousness, Alieth." She looks at Khan and raises an eyebrow at him. "You should be resting, old man."

"I am not tired." Khan narrows his eyes stubbornly.

"He has indeed 'rested' for several hours. I do think it would permissible if he were to be allowed to stretch his muscle for a short duration of time before getting more sleep." Alieth cuts in and Khan looks at her carefully.

At of all the people to stick up for him, it had to be a Vulcan.

Well, at least it wasn't Spock.

Ze'eva thinks for a moment before nodding once in consent. "Fine, but nothing too strenuous." She walks away and Khan stays stubbornly at her side.

"Where are you going?"

"To blow stuff up. Want to come?"

**…**

BOOM!

A huge fireball races towards them and Ze'eva freezes. Within an instant Khan's hand closes painfully on her upper arm and swings her into the wall, using his body to shield her from the blast.

He closes his eyes, body tensing in preparation for the pain to come…but it never does. Instead, he feels Ze'eva punching him savagely over and over in the stomach and he steps back carefully to find her glaring daggers at him.

If looks could kill, he'd be a goner.

"As I said before, '_none of bombs are lethal'_, nimrod." She skulks away.

It didn't hit her until much later that he had actually just tried to save her life. Killer that he was he still moved forward to help her when he thought that she was in danger…and she just yelled at him for it.

Oops.

**…**

"Why are we here?" Khan looks at her, eyes narrowed with lingering humiliation from earlier and distrust shimmering beneath his eyes' icy depths. The pain from his stomach has subsided and he knows without being told that his advanced regenerative abilities have already healed him of any bruises that Ze'eva would have managed to inflict upon him.

"Flame is working on a new type of stun grenade and requested some assistance with it. I'm not sure if we're the guinea pigs or if he needs help with the actual solution itself."

"Wonderful."

"Do you complain about everything?" she snaps irritably. "Seriously, is it impossible for you to say anything positive or awe inspiring?"

"'Hang in there'." He says, his face neutral, and rests a hand lightly on Ze'eva's shoulder. His eyes bright with mischief.

"You stole that from random some inspirational cat poster, didn't you?"

"You can prove nothing; so, where is this 'Flame'?"

"Who knows? Maybe he saw your sparkling personality, Khan, and decided that suicide would be the best route to take from there." Khan glares at her and she shrugs. "So, besties forever?" She smiles at him jokingly and elbows him lightly in the ribs. He winces and he stalks past her in answer.

**…**

Within minutes they locate Flame. He is bending over the table with various chemical solutions spread about him. Flame is about fourteen with dark chocolate colored skin, kind brown eyes, and a shock of black curly hair with bright red highlights running through it. He wears a loose fitting green shirt and blue jeans and looks up to smile at the pair as they come close.

"Hey, how's it coming?" Ze'eva asks and she steps forward to watch him work.

"Pretty good so far. Who's your friend?" Flame nods to Khan who simply eyes the boy suspiciously. _This is their weapons specialists? He's just a teenager! This place is a joke!_

"He's temporary." Ze'eva says quickly before Khan even has a chance to respond.

"My name. Is. Khan."

Ze'eva rolls her eyes and Flame merely nods politely in confirmation. "Well, Khan, my name is Flame and I am a recovering pyromaniac. So, how's this look to you?" The boy throws the grenade fast and hard away from them and they all wince as white light burns their eyes and a loud pop assails their senses. It takes only a few seconds for Khan to get his senses back.

"Could be better." Khan says and Flame nods.

"Everyone's a critic."

**…**

"Where are we going now?"

"Medbay."

"I'm not tired."

"Good for you, but you're not sleeping; you're going to be working with the injured patients; Alieth just called: they're away."

"And why would I do that?"

"Because you put thousands of people both in the hospital and six feet under the ground after your childish tantrum in San Francisco. It might be about time you learn about patient care and how to help people. These kids aren't from Earth but they have sustained similar wounds. Your job is to change the bandages and be somewhat nice while you do."

"And you?" Khan says, his deep baritone echoing slightly off of the walls.

"I'm going to go plan homicide."

"Whose?" Khan head tilts slightly to the side and he appraises the young woman carefully.

"Yours."

A corner of Khan's mouth quirks up in amusement.

"Try it." He challenges. "I dare you."

**…**

We return home hours later. Khan retreats to his room to put his new clothes and such away while I lie on the couch and begin to reprogram the PADD so that it will only display books. After a few minutes, my hack is complete and I carefully lies the PADD on the nearby coffee table.

Now what…?

I nearly groan with frustration. Time to make dinner.

This is just great...

I wonder if Truk would mind switching out with dinner with me today? I'm exhausted from dealing with Khan and have a headache developing in my temples. Watching that man is like babysitting a spoiled toddler. He has to whine and complain about everything.

This 'rehabilitation' thing might be a little more difficult than I had originally thought.

He doesn't trust me or anyone else. He sees just about everything in a negative light and when he's not complaining, he's trying to dominate anyone within a close proximity of him. Sure, he tried to help me, but he's a disaster waiting to happen. And if that over-glorified collar breaks, it's my family that gets hurt. Why did I even sign up, again?

It's not like this is going to help anything.

It's not helping Roni.

**…**

Khan sits down on his bed and sighs as exhaustion sinks into his bones. Today had been confusing. He tried to hard to get that woman to show her true colors but all she did was confuse him more. And even with his obvious discontent and his complaining, she never moved to harm him. The only time she acted in violenc eis when he pinned her to the wall. But why? The moment he initiated physical contact it's like she went ballistic. Her breathing accelerating and heartbeat quickened. Fear had flashed wildly in her eyes...but he couldn't harm her with the collar on. The moment he'd even try, he'd be on the ground, twitching violently as electricity coursed down his veins, and she knew this!

So, why was she more afraid of him than the fireball that raced at them?

Yawning he lies down and closes his eyes for a few minutes before blinking them back open. Who knew going to this woman's work would be so physically and mentally demanding? For the most part, all he did today was sleep and do menial work. Weird. The beatings from before must have taken more out of him than he had originally thought.

Again his eyes flicker closed and he snores softly as sleep blanket him.

When he wakes up Ze'eva has finished making dinner and they are all sitting at the table, waiting for him to take his seat. Khan sits wearily and stares at the food: sweat tea, cheese burgers, grilled sliced potatoes, and sweet potato fries—fatty foods. He raises an eyebrow but says nothing for a minute.

"What?" Ze'eva asks. "Too American for you?"

"I would not think that you would be aware of Earth customs or cuisine." Khan answers evenly.

"My mother was an American and she cooked Earth cuisine often enough." An undercurrent of sadness trickles through her words but Khan chooses not to comment on it. They both had their own wounds to nurse where family was concerned.

After they all eat, Truk again leaves with the children to get them cleaned up and ready for bed, leaving Khan and Ze'eva alone.

"Why are you helping me?" Khan asks softly. "Why do you care?"

Ze'eva looks at him for a moment. Her dark, almost black hair is pulled into a loose ponytail and her blue-green eyes asses him cautiously.

She stares at the floor, not once meeting his cold and distrustful gaze."I do not know." Her words are soft, barely heavier than the air that they had been forced into. She's quiet a moment more before continuing. "I know what it is like to experience cruelty, to worry about your family, and to wonder about whether or not I'd even survive to next morning, let alone them. I remember…being alone and terrified…and not knowing what to do…and I wanted someone to help me but no one was ever there. Truk would help out when he could but...I wanted someone to rescue me and to tell me that everything would be okay again. I needed someone to help me protect my family from harm, and Truk had to be with his own family and protect them..."

She pauses again before speaking again, "And it was hard. My people wanted me dead and would stop at nothing to kill me and anything I cared for, and all I wanted was for my family to be safe again. So…I can kind of get why you did what you did when you killed that Star Fleet Admiral and crashed your ship because you wanted revenge-you were in pain and your heart was bleeding. It was only natural that you'd respond negatively; that's completely human-normal, even. You were created and trained by cruel people to be a cruel person and now Star Fleet is punishing you for being what their predecessors made you into. It's easier to kill you than to deal with the consequences of what they've made. So, why not? You needed help and I'm giving it, simple as that."

Khan scowls, his mood instantly transforming from calm to stormy.

"I did not _ask_ for your _help_ and I certainly did not _ask_ for your _pity_." Spit droplets fly into her face but she doesn't flinch away. He leans close to her face and pins her to the walls by her arms, his fingers digging into his skin but not hard enough to hurt her. Yet, she just looks at him with such a sad look that Khan pushes her away and storms into his room, slamming to door hard enough to make the walls rattle but not hard enough to break the door itself.

"And I didn't ask you for yours." She says softly.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

_It's cold. Little puffs of smoke materialize with every breathe. _

_"__Where are you?" The voice taints and something glints in the dim lighting. "Where are you?"_

_Shivering, I press closer to the wall. Fear surges in my chest and heart races wildly. I can't let them find me. To be discovered is to die._

_"__Where are you? Come on out. I'm not going to hurt you…" _Liar. And you weren't going to hurt Allison, either, now were you?_ Carefully, I edge away before turning and running down the hallway. My bare feet sting when they slap against the frozen concrete floor and a million screams tear through the air. Phaser blasts ignite the darkness into blood red as my tormentor gallops on my heels._

_"__Where are you going?! Don't you want to play?"_

_Something sharp digs into my shoulder and I scream. "NOO!"_

_They drag me back inside and I scream and writhe wildly, every cell screaming for me to get away. But I can't._

_Everyone knows that you don't escape from the darkest corner of the world._

_And even if you do, it's only for a short while…_

_Because then they come and drag you back._

_Where no one will ever hear you scream._

**…**

Gasping, I sit up in my bed. My entire body shakes and sweat shimmers down my brow._ What's wrong with me? Why can't I just forget the past and leave it to die in the dust?_ Trembling violently, I force myself to stand up and take a quick shower. When I'm done I tip-toe to my son's room and watch him sleep.

And my heart aches.

I know by now that Khan won't harm them. Monster that he is, he doesn't hurt kids. Besides, anything he could possibly do to my little Aaron would be considered kind compared to his future fate. Sadly, I walk beside his bed and kneel on the ground and run my hand through his little brown curls…and my heart breaks all over again as I listen to his breathe catch and falter in his sleep.

_Why?_

_Why my son?_

**…**

Khan wakes up suddenly and all his senses strain to figure out why. With a quiet sigh, he sits up and walks out of his room and is surprised to see the light to Ze'eva's office on. What is she doing? And how did she get down here without him hearing?

She's staring at holograms of the region, highlighting them in different colors before swiping the images away and turning to ships. Quietly, she speaks into her ear piece and quickly finds the cause for multiple systems malfunctions, highlighting the problems in red for the owners to rectify later.

"Are you okay?" Khan asks softly as he walks up behind her and stops at a respectable distance.

She nods. "I'm fine." She's not; she's clearly emotionally distressed.

"Are you?"

"Yes, I'm a hopeless insomniac. Usually, I just read upstairs."

"And tonight?"

"I've read all of my books and reports five times through: they're getting kind of old." She pauses for a second before looking at him. "Sorry I woke you." She rushes out of the room and back up the stairs, leaving him to stare after her.

**…**

Little by little, Khan is integrated into Ze'eva's and Truk's family. And day by day, more of his strength and weight returns to him. Cassie, Ze'eva's friend he met the other day he got here, stops by from time to time, but she never stays for very long. Her eyes would flit to him often and before they knew it, she's out the door and driving away, her foot slamming down on the acceleration and white soil flying up into the air in her haste to get away from exiled dictator.

But when she was here, she would get Ze'eva to laugh.

The two of them would laugh and giggle like children and even Ze'eva's young daughters would join in. Khan would smile slightly and Truk would shake his head a little, muttering the word "women" under his breath. It was all so picturesque and normal that Khan couldn't help but lower his defenses ever so slightly.

Every day he would get dragged to Ze'eva's work and, eventually, he found himself enjoying it. They would still eat breakfast and lunch together and, for two hours every day, he still had to rest in the medbay, but Ze'eva allowed him the rest of the day to roam relatively free throughout the compound until it was time leave—and then they would meet up in the Cafeteria.

This is what he missed: his freedom.

And security.

What he didn't know was that today that was about to change.

**…**

He didn't really notice it until lunch. Normally, they would pass each other at least twice in the hallways or would chance upon the same section. She would wave or nod politely but make no move to converse or socialize and he responded in kind. But he didn't see her today. It didn't really hit him until lunch. So, far, she'd been beating him to the table and reserving his spot for him (not that anyone else sat there), but she never showed up today. Khan ate quickly and wandered around, inquiring if anyone had seen her.

So far, no one had.

"Hey." A familiar voice chirps behind him. "Where've you been?"

He whips around and suddenly has the urge to strangle her. "Where have _I_ been?" He repeats and inwardly seethes although outwardly he gives no indication of the turmoil inside. "Where have _you_ been?"

"Oh, yeah, right. I keep forgetting to give you this. Here—catch." She tosses a light object at him and he examines it briefly: communicator that straps onto his ear. "Oh, and I need your help. You like violence, right?"

**…**

"What is this about?" Khan demands as he walks beside her, matching her swift pace stride for stride.

"I've got a heck of a lot of new recruits coming in and would value a fresh perspective."

"Meaning?" He bristles. This is it; where she finally admits she's been using him, gaining his trust in order to win his servitude.

"Meaning, that Cassie is busy because you freak her out and she refuses to be anywhere near you; so, you're my plan B. What, did you have plans or something?"

The corner of his mouth twitches upwards in relief and amusement. "And what about the_ leader_ of this establishment? When we meet them?" He inquires.

"Oh, trust me; they'll be there." She says cryptically.

**…**

"It's only us." Khan says finally.

"So it is."

"And where is your leader?"

"I am my leader. Why do you think I constantly go from one sector to the next? It serves a dual purpose: keep me entertained and make sure everything is running smoothly."

"And these recruits of yours? What purpose will they serve?"

"More medics, pilots, engineers, and whatnot. With the tensions and violence getting worse, I need more people to keep up with all the injured. Getting more recruits is the fastest option. The people I already have can mentor over the new guys, training them up to join their ranks."

Khan nods briskly. "Sounds understandable."

"You know, if it freaks you out, I can find a plan C."

"It's fine." He says quickly. To tell the truth, he was a little intrigued about what she might have in store for the new recruits...and he himself found himself getting a little exited at the idea of watching what would happen with them. But he'll darned if he ever admits it.

"You sure?"

"Yes." He glares at her, daring her to say otherwise and she simply shrugs indifferently.

"Hey!" A familiar voice yells. "Don't start without me!"

Khan looks over his shoulder to see Truk and Ze'eva's son, Aaron, running up to them.

"About time you came to work, you lazy bum. Nathaniel has been drowning me in politics! And what are you doing here, Aaron? Shouldn't you be at daycare with your sisters?"

"He got sick." Truk says quietly and Ze'eva nods knowingly.

"Alright."

"So, what are we doing?" Truk asks. "And why are we in the basement levels? No one comes down here! It's completely empty!"

"Exactly." Ze'eva turns back to the glass and watches as a bunch of children file in. There are twenty in all ranges from ten to fifteen years of age. "These are the new guys. I had some of out guys instill bunks last night: there are twenty in all and two to a room." The room walls are made of thick bullet-proof glass with curtains on the inside for privacy. "I'll put boys on the right and girls to the left."

"Ah, so you're breaking them in?" Truk says with a nod.

"Nope." Both men look at her.

"What do you mean?" Khan asks hesitantly. "Why am I here?"

"That's a good question." Truk eyes him. "Why _is_ he here?"

"He's my plan B."

"Ah, Cassie bailed on you, huh?" Truk smirks and Ze'eva rolls her eyes at him.

"Shut up." She snaps and Aaron giggles.

"So, what are you planning in that pretty little head of yours?" Truk nudges her in the ribs and she smiles before ruffling Aaron's hair and pulling him carefully into her arms.

"Usually? Mass genocide. But, currently, I think there might be a way for us to get all of the recruits eligible to join rather than a selected few like the flyer said. I'm going to make groups of four, five kids in each group. And in each group there will be an Alpha and a Beta."

**…**

"A pilot and a co-pilot." Truk smirks at me and I nod.

"A leader and an adviser," Khan murmurs and I smile at him too.

_Awesome! They're catching on! It sure took 'em long enough!_

"Correct. Khan's here to help me figure out their personalities. I'm usually pretty accurate, but a fresh insight is always helpful." I says distractedly as I turn back to sweep my eyes over them once again.

"Alright, so, how are we going to start things off?" Truk inquires and I almost laugh at him. _Poor Truk. Poor naïve, Truk. He'll never see it coming._

"With a random paintball war."

"You're going to let them shoot each other?!"

"No, the paintballs are going to fly out of the walls in every conceivable direction and I'm going to analyze their emotional reactions."

"That's cruel." Truk jokes and shakes his head.

"They're only paintballs, and it'll help me figure out their personalities and ultimately the positions they will play on in the organization."

"What kind of personalities to do expect to see?"

"The cowards, the idiots, the heroes, and the jerks."

"You really think this is going to work?" Truk says and I find myself nodding.

"Yes. It will. Besides, when we're recovering survivors from the field, we're often met with enemy fire. This is simply practice, and I have medics standing by...just in case."

"This is going to end fantastically." Truk rolls his eyes and Khan smirks a little at the squabbling pair before turning his face completely neutral: an unreadable blank page.

"Isn't it?" I say sarcastically and I see Aaron smile out of the corner of my eye. Khan is watching me carefully but he keeps his emotions carefully buried. Heck, he probably thinks I'm just as bad as Marcus right now.

Oops.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Paintballs fill the air. Some of the smaller children yell and try to fly and a few of the older ones run them over in their haste to get away. They push and shove others and yell their indignation.

"Well," Truk says, quirking his eyebrow upwards, "I found the jerks."

"And I the cowards." Khan frowns.

"They aren't cowards; they're just young."

"So, you're looking for a particular type of person aren't you?" Truk nudges me with an elbow and I nod.

"Yep."

"And that would be…?"

"Heroes. Someone who'd take the bullet rather than let someone take it for them."

"Why?"

"They are going to be my Alphas. A leader needs to be someone who cares about their people. If they're always trying to scramble away from danger, then they're putting their own people at risk. If you can risk your life or getting hurt for a complete stranger, how much more would you do for your crew?" My words make Khan flinch slightly but I pretend not to notice.

"And who would the Betas be?" Khan looks at me.

"Let's find the Alphas first."

So far, only three of the kids are doing what I'd hoped. A small child (roughly eleven years old) is tackled to the ground by a girl of about fifteen and a line of paintballs fly over their heads. Carefully, she pushes herself up and pulls the child to his feet, making sure he's alright before moving to cover.

I make a note on my clipboard and watch the others carefully.

But, after three hours, I've only identified three Alphas…I still need two more! Man, this is going to be harder than I had originally thought. Wonderful.

**…**

"There has to be a reason you're doing this." Truk says and Khan nods in agreement. "This isn't what you had originally thought we'd do for initiation. Why the change?"

I sigh. "See that boy there? With the black hair?"

Truk looks and finds him in minutes. "Sixteen-ish. Tall. Pale skin?"

"Yep."

"I don't follow."

"He's an Augment hybrid but his personality and those of the other hybrids don't really fit with what we need for the SAR (Search and Rescue); I figured if I dragged it out a bit, I'd be giving them more of a chance to succeed. These kids—all of them—are homeless. They have no other options. It's get a job or starve. Because of San Fran and Sector 31 interference, just about every experimental humanoid or hybrid will be unable to be employed. The humans down there have criminal records."

"But why take the chance?" Khan stands and glares down at me. "Why go the hard route of molding employees when there are dozens more applicants in your villages?" He spews his contempt at me and his blue eyes flash angrily.

What set him off this time?

"Because these children are survivors. They already know how to fight and when to do battle and when to fight. They're the kids that no one gives a hoot one way or the other. I'm not going to punish some child with a criminal record if they were starving to death and stole food or were attacked and defended themselves.

"I'm giving these kids a chance. What's it to you? Because five of them are part Augment? Because eight were imprisoned and tortured mercilessly by the Sector 31 nuts? Because the rest are 'inferior humans'? They have a right to live and their genetics shouldn't be a factor in deciding their fate."

I turn back to the kids and watch them through the tinted glass.

I can see them but they can't see me.

Does this make me a stalker?

"So? The Alphas." Truk says softly. "Any idea who they will be, yet?"

I think for a second. "We have five Augment hybrids and five groups. Let's put each Augment as an Alpha." The three heroes had Augmented DNA anyway; besides, this'll help me see just what kind of leader that on guy is…but something tell me I already know. He's going to cruel and overbearing, constantly breaking their spirits to prove his own superiority and status. That is, if he even acknowledges them.

"Well, thanks for your help, Khan. If you want to go blow stuff up now you can. Have fun and tell Flame I said 'hi'." His eyes narrow at me but he leaves Truk and me in peace. "Five bucks says that kid got his Augmented DNA from Khan." I tell Truk and he shakes his head.

"Oh, no. I am _not_ losing money this time. He's the spitting image of the guy: dark hair, blue eyes, tall, white skin." He shakes his head. "He even has the same atmosphere about him. Did you see the way he walked in? Head high, shoulders back, spine ram-rod straight—it was like he owned the place and everyone here was worthless."

"Yeah, you could almost feel the arrogance coming off of him."

"He's going to be a tough cookie to crack; are you sure this is going to work?"

"I'm not trying to crack him—I'm trying to help him."

"Just be careful."

"Nah, that's no fun. Come on, you got a live a little." I punch him lightly in the arm and he playfully shoves me back. But I know that he is right; if I'm not careful, that boy would kill me without a second's hesitation if her perceives me a threat…and since I'm the leader here, I am a threat to his leadership.

I may have gotten a little over my head here.

Oh, well. Too late to back out now.

**…**

The next day, I have them all grouped out and into teams. Oddly enough, Khan seems to have jumped aboard the whole 'train random children' train. He watches the kids as carefully as I do as I begin to formulate a schedule and send it to the instructors via PADDs.

I frown and look down at my clip board.

"What's wrong?" Khan sits beside me so close that are legs are touching. My skin crawls uncomfortable at the physical contact and I consciously scoot away to put more space in between me and him. I'm not weird…

"Nothing." I say quickly.

"Lying is morally wrong." He echoes my friend's, Cassie's, words with an amused smile, and I lift an eyebrow at him before he continues, "Or so I've heard on multiple occasions. So, what is bothering you?"

"I don't have anyone to teach hand-to-hand combat." I'd do it, but I can't stand physical contact and I'm not exactly in the curb-stomp-random-minors-senseless mood quite yet.

"Hm." He nods. "I am skilled at multiple forms of martial arts." Shock rips through me. He's volunteering to do something? I would consider this an improvement had he not been volunteering to attack people.

"You volunteering or gloating, father time?"

He smiles coldly my insult. "Which do you prefer?" His voice is cold and deadly but I meet his gaze calmly. He doesn't scare me; I've seen worse.

I shake my head dispassionately and shrug as if to say 'I don't care' because I know it will annoy him before saying, "Whatever. If you want the job, you got it. Just don't kill anyone or break anyone's bones—I mean it." His sharp finger points to his neck and he scowls angrily. "Oh…right…sorry?"

**…**

Khan teaches half of them hand-to-hand combat while I teach the rest about knives and phasers. Within minutes the Augmented kids have got it down and the humans yawn, bored. For the most part, everyone seems to already know about weapons, and those that don't catch on pretty quickly.

"So." A small hand tugs on my jeans and I glance down. What I thought to be an incredibly short ten-year-old is actually a four-year-old child…oops. My bad.

The poor thing is dangerously skinny, covered in dust, and has curly blond hair that has been twisted into two braids on the side of her head…and sad brown puppy dog eyes. She shivers slightly from exhaustion but forces herself to stand on wobbly legs and glare at a wooden target across the room. In her quivering hand rests a large throwing knife and tears of frustration glisten in her eyes.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" I squat so we're eye level.

"I can't hit the tawget!" She whines and I shake my head, smiling gently.

"Don't worry. Why don't you find somewhere else for you to go?" The moment the words slip past my lips her eyes go wide with terror. What did I say?

"But I need to stay here!" Oh, right. She's homeless…

But she's too young for me train with the others and I'm not going to throw a five-year-old on the front lines where people are seriously wounded and dying. No kid needs to see that. So, what do I do…?

Khan watches me carefully and I flip him off.

Mind your own, old man!

Smiling mockingly, he turns away and goes back to sparing with his mini-twin.

"Come on." I extend my right hand and her left reaches up to grab it. My stomach drops when I see black inked letters and numbers etched into her skin. That poor, poor little girl. "Let's find somewhere else you can stay."

"But I want to stay here!" She starts to cry, tears running down her dirtied face.

"And you are." I say softly. "I'm just giving you a better job. Like cleaning or showing people around." Something easy and not dangerous to her health. "Or cheering up the sick people in the medbay."

She smiles happily and gets a joyous bounce to her step as she walks beside me. I swear, if smiles were literally radiant, every single person in the room would be blind.

"What's your name?" I ask her.

"Awielle."

"Arielle?" I ask her and squeeze her hand just a little. She nods. "Well, it's nice to meet you; I'm Ze'eva."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

It's Friday. The girls play quietly in the living room and Aaron watches them contently from his spot on the couch. I'm frying salmon and beside me, Khan is chopping up carrots, the tip of the bad ever so slightly scratching against my arm. Arielle giggles and skips from room to room, her wide eyes playful and exited—I've never seen a kid more happy.

Cassie suggested she stay with me for a while before we find the tyke a more permanent home. Right now, my partner in crime is overseeing the training of the new recruits…I didn't really care for the evil look she got in her eyes when she asked or how suddenly she had gotten interested in my little project. But I am sure things will be fine.

Khan shifts so that our bodies are touching ever so slightly and I move away casually, my elbow swinging back neatly into his ribs. He winces in surprise but shows no other outward sign of discomfort. Quickly finishing up the fish, I set it out on the table, making sure to thoroughly crush his toes with my heel as I walk past.

Ha!

Vengeance!

No one annoys me and gets away with it you senile old bat!

It's weird, because despite having a huge kitchen, Khan's presence seems to dominate the enormous space. It's almost as though he's walking behind me, breathing down my neck, his eyes stabbing into my shoulders with every move that I make. This is really annoying.

And creepy.

"What's that?" Arielle eyes the food critically but her stomach growls loudly, betraying her hunger. My blood boils to think of this sweet girl out on the streets, scrounging for scraps while others watched uncaringly from the sidelines.

Starving.

Helpless.

And alone.

How could someone just throw this kid away and leave her to fend for herself on a planet as cruel as our own?

"It's dinner; go on and play with the other kids; I'll call you when it's done, Arielle."

"Pwomise?" Her blue eyes light up hopefully.

Wow. I can't believe anyone would be this excited about a meal, but then again, three years ago, I was the same way. Food is life and failure to obtain it results in death. Starvation is not kind and is not merciful. It kills indiscriminately and without prejudice. Anyone can fall victim.

I look back into the kitchen and watch Khan focusing on his task but also somehow keeping track of everyone else's movements and actions. Starvation almost got him. I look at back at Arielle—five-years-old and just as small as my own children who are only three—and then at the mirror. It almost got us, too.

I smile sadly, "Yes." I drop down to one knee and put one hand carefully on top of her shoulder. "I promise that I will." She gives me a grave look, a look far beyond her years, before trotting lightly into the other room. Elsa squeals at seeing Arielle and I watch her give the gentle girl a happy hug before pulling her over to her coloring book.

"Look at this, Ari! Look at it!"

"Cool!" They hold hands and jump in a circle and Aaron rolls his eyes muttering 'girls' under his breathe.

**…**

"Wimp." Khan says when I walk back into the kitchen.

"What?" I look at him carefully; did he just insult me?

"Nothing." He goes back to cutting carrots.

Maybe he's still mad about last night. The collar makes it impossible for him not to disobey an order. I had dropped and accidently broke a glass outside my bedroom (on the top floor) and he had instinctively stepped on the bottom step to see what had happened.

And then he was falling to the ground and screaming as electricity jolted through his veins. It didn't last very long: a minute tops, but it had been just long enough to make him lose consciousness and have minor respiratory problems. I felt bad and, together, Truk and I dragged him into his room and plopped him on his bed. He had woken up six hours later, rubbing his forehead furiously to chase away the headache that was pounding in his temples.

I didn't apologize.

**…**

"So? How'd it ago?" I ask Casey as she pulls up into the driveway.

"Well…"

Oh, dear God. "What did you do? How many are dead?"

"What? No, these kids are fine. I started them on teambuilding exercises…that one kid, the one you told me about…he's so much like…" She glances over at Khan who is talking to Truk about something mechanical, given that they're both analyzing the car critically. "It's weird. And he's just so vicious! I'm telling you, Ze'eva, that kid is dangerous."

"I know." That's why I asked him to join. If I can help him, I may even be able to knock some sense into Khan, but I don't tell her this. She wouldn't get it. "Want to come in? We're about to eat. There are salmon and steamed carrots."

"Depends. Got any soda?"

"Yep, but don't tell Truk—it'd all be gone in a day."

"Deal." We fist bump.

**…**

After we eat, I help Cassie slip a box of Coca Cola into her van. If Truk sees it, he'd gulp it all down before we even had to the chance to put it in her truck (this said, I sure am glad that I slipped a little sedative into his tea…).

"See you!" Cassie calls and I wave in response.

"Don't drink and drive!" I shout after her and she laughs, a coke already clutched passively in her left hand.

"Bite me!" She speeds away and soon her car is swallowed by a cloud of smoke. I grin cheekily. On our planet we have stores but a lot of Eart conveniences aren't sold in normal stores. So, you have to dig through the black market and see what you can find. It can take months for a single crate of soda to show itself.

Trust me, I've looked.

Often.

**…**

"So what was it like?" I ask. Truk had gone to bed hours ago and the girls (all three of them) were asleep on a mound of blankets in the middle of the floor. Aaron lies contently on the couch, his cotton blue and green blanket draping over his gently snoring form. I watch him carefully for a minute to make sure he's breathing okay before looking back at Khan.

"What is what like?" Flat, monotonous voice. Safire eyes flashing with intrigue.

"Your life before the Eugenics."

The question catches him completely off guard and I see shock rippling across his face and racing down his spine as his eyes leap from curiosity to suspicion.

"It was simpler. Better."

"How?" I ask. I'm genuinely curious. Technologically, my planet is close to where Earth was that in the early 2000s, and I've seen enough pictures of Earth recently to know that a lot has changed. Wouldn't progress be better?

"My family and I were together and didn't have to worry about the opinions or actions of inferior creatures." He bristles, his fists shaking with rage but I don't flinch away. He's not angry at me—it's someone else he wants to kill.

And who knows?

Maybe he already has.

"Like me?" My voice is louder than what I'd thought it'd be and it sings through the air like a whip and slams him cruelly across the face.

His eyes narrow and he nods once. Briskly.

"Everything is inferior to me."

"Maybe." I think for a moment. "But you are inferior to me in a few aspects."

His demeanor turns cold and mocking. "Really, now? And what _aspects_," he spits the word out as if it were spoiled milk. "Would those be?"

"Compassion and self-control. The ability to analyze situations from different perspectives in order to better understand what has occurred and why."

"And yet, you're the one who has to worry should this collar malfunction and I'm set free." He growls.

"But I'm not the one wearing the collar, am I?" I can tell my words cut deep but he restrains himself from attacking me. To hurt me would render another shock—a repeat of last night. "And how can you possibly be 'superior' if you repeat the same stupid mistakes that the people you loath made? They threatened your family and tortured you; you responded in kind. In what way are you different? Where is the distinction?"

"I am better."

"At what?" The words are hard and brittle, hot with anger. Lately, all I've wanted to do is throttle him...especially after what happened to Roni.

"Everything." He walks away before I can respond, his hands curled into shaking fists and stomps into his room, slamming the door angrily.

The door does not break.


	19. Chapter 19

**Well, it's going to start picking up again as the metaphorical ball starts to roll once again-Yes! I love reviews-seriously, I'm just about obsessed with them-so, please comment. I hope you guys enjoy. :)**

**Chapter 19**

They're at the SAR. Cassie, Khan had noticed, had gotten a few minor breakthroughs with the team building exercises, but it would take these kids a while to ever develop into a true family. Years of forced isolation had made them suspicious of others and fearful of socialization. While some were kind and friendly, all were wary in one form or fashion. Ze'eva is still telling the instructors to do more of those exercises but she never personally worked with them.

"Hello?" She holds the communicator to her ear and frowns, anxiety trickling down her posture, making her go from slouching comfortable against the wall to sitting painfully straight. "What?" She listens for a minute. "Yes…give me ten minutes." She flips it closed and jumps to her feet.

"Where are you going?" Khan demands and rises gracefully from the ground until he looms over the shorter woman.

"Irrelevant." Tears shine in her eyes but she doesn't allow them to fall. Something is wrong. She goes to walk away and his hand carefully wraps around her arm and she tried to jerk away but he holds her tight. "Let go!" She snaps and quickly punches him the stomach.

Khan's neck vibrates in warning as the collar begins to warm up in preparation for a shock and his hand snaps instantly to his side. She glowers at him before turning on her heel and racing away. He watches her jump into her car and speed quickly away. Distantly, he wonders how he will get back to their home since she just abandoned him at the SAR which is at least 30 miles from her home. Not a particularly demanding distance for him, but certainly inconvenient.

He scowls.

This girl was making him weak.

He hates that such a physically weak individual has to power to order him around and force him to follow out of fear of physical agony. He hates that she is so good, and kind, and patient. How she helps other inferior beings thrive without a single thought to herself or her own personal health. Ze'eva jumped in blindly and never gave up on someone who needed her, even going as far as taking strangers into her home: like Khan and that little girl, Arielle.

It both sickened and revived him.

And he couldn't deny the tug he felt towards her like some invisible string that linked their lives together and continued to drag them back into one another's presence. Or the nagging thought that she was more than she seemed. And that she was hiding something important from him. Something that made her gaze harden ever so slightly when she looked at him or made her tense up a little when he walked a little too close, her hands curling into tight fists of anger.

But what had he done?

Compared to how he was taunting Kirk on the Enterprise, he was almost tame in dealing with Ze'eva and her family. He had been facetious sure, but he had not harmed or threatened any of them. This would not equate to the level of sorrow in her eyes, the small quivers of barely concealed anger.

And guilt.

Hopelessness.

Something was wrong for sure.

But what?

**…**

The sharp stab of antiseptic. I pace the length of the room wildly like a wild animal trapped in a cage. A hand falls on my shoulder and my skin screams as if it been burned. Quickly, I jerk away, my heart racing wildly.

This can't happening.

It can't.

The walls are white. The floors are white. The people wear white and sterile. Everything white. Clean. Sterile. The people wear forced smiles and detached expressions. My heart races faster. I hate this place. I hate these people. I hate this situation.

But I'm trapped and now, there is nowhere to run.

No escape.

My breathe hitches and something hot burns in my eyes and down my cheeks. My hands shake and I feel nauseous. My stomach is rolling and pitching chaotically. _This isn't happening._

It was _supposed _to be okay.

But it is _not_ okay.

And it never will be again.

**…**

Cassie sighs and shifts uncomfortably behind the steering wheel that she is clutching tightly, her knuckles going white and her fingers going numb. She can't believe that she has to do this—it isn't fair! Why does she have to pick him up? He's a lunatic! A homicidal maniac!

Why does she have to babysit him?

Khan freaks her out. Like, seriously, gives her the willies. His cold glare slices right through her and he seems to know every thought racing through her head. She knew he'd just as soon snap her neck as look at her. Again she shifts and feels a childish whimper escape.

Swallowing, she pulls up the SAR and parks close to the building. Taking a deep breathe, she forces herself to stand shakily and walk carefully inside. Butterflies flare up in the pit of her stomach.

"Hey…Fang." She says to one of Ze'eva's senior pilots. He's about Cassie's age with shaggy brown hair, piercing black eyes, and light olive skin. He chuckles art seeing how nervous she is and shakes his head slightly in amusement.

"So, you're the chauffeur, huh?" He says with a joking half grin, his eyes lighting up brightly. "Man, I pity you. That guy is weird." He thinks for a minute, "But kind of cool, too. I guess."

"So, do you know where he is…? I need to get him over to Ze'eva's…"

"Yeah, follow me. He's been in the strategy room for hours. Those poor tacticians never had a chance."

**…**

Ten minutes later they're in the car and speeding away. Khan narrows his eyes and stares at her while she drives, quiet amusement flickering inside his chest at watching her aggravation and fear grow. And he didn't even say anything. Well, at least he didn't lose his touch. Ze'eva could stare back at him without flinching and didn't seem bothered at all when he tried to establish his dominance. For a while, he'd been worried that he was losing his touch.

Casey glances at him and back at the road. Him. Road. Him. Road. Him. Him. Him. Road. You know what? Screw it.

She slams on the breaks and twists the wheel roughly to the right. Khan's eyes snap the road—empty—and quickly grabs on to the handle on the ceiling of the call, his hands accidently tearing it off of the ceiling. Oops.

"What is your problem?" The woman demands and Khan blinks at her. "Well? Come on? Why are you staring at me?"

"Bored."

"Seriously? What's wrong with you?"

"Drive."

"What?! You've been trying to freak me out from day one and practically glaring daggers at me for the past five minutes and you just want to drive now? Seriously?"

"Yes, do try to keep up." Khan murmurs. He never sees her hand until it's too late. By the time he notices it, her palm slams into the side of his head, forcing him to turn as she slaps him hard.

"Keep up with that." She snarls and throws the car into gear.

_Well, if he wasn't planning on murdering her before,_ Cassie reasons, _he sure is now._

**…**

Ze'eva gets home around three o'clock—in the morning.

Exhausted, she trudges inside through the kitchen door. Cassie, who was asleep on the couch, stands up groggily and looks at hr friend, concern springing off of her like sunlight.

"Are you okay?"

"Sure." Ze'eva yawns. "Yeah, I'm just great. Super, in fact."

"You know, everything is going to be fine, right?"

"Sure it will. It'll be just perfect."

"Ze'eva…" Cassie goes to put a hand on her shoulder and the woman jerks away.

"Go home, Cassie." She growls. "And leave me alone." She runs past her friend, her shoulder slamming into Cassie as she passes.

Khan watches the exchange and feels a small prick of pity when he sees the look of complete hopelessness and sorrow that ignites Cassie's face before he quickly pushes the emotion away. No, Cassie slapped him. While he admired her courage, he would not let an action such as that go unpunished.

No one harmed him and got away with it.


	20. Chapter 20

**Sorry, this chapter is incredibly short, but I did it on purpose: I have a surprise planned for Chapter 21 and I figured it'd be better if it was split up. Hopefully, I should post the next chapter tomorrow, if not I will be Sunday. It depends on how much down time I can scrounge up between church and stuff.**

**Chapter 20**

"It's all his fault. I hate him. You should have let him die for what he did, Ze'eva." My brother, Eliezer looks at me. We're deep in the forest, far away from civilization. He stands stiffly beside the hard mountain wall and glares into the valley—a magnificent 3,000 foot deep crater.

"He deserves to die for what he did to her." He continues and I shake my head carefully.

"Maybe, he does." My voice was soft and scratchy. My heart feels like someone has replaced my blood with acid and it burns inside my chest. A large lump is forming in my throat and my eyes sting. "But who are we to decide?"

"Who is he to do what he did? How care he! She did not deserve that! She was a child! She is a child! HE IS A MONSTER!" Eli explodes, his face going red and eyes burning with a fire that belongs until the enraged.

"I know, Eli." I turn away from him and watch as a large hawk-like bird soars effortlessly through the clouds. "But what's done is done."

The smoldering ruins and the screaming crowds. I had tried to get to here but I couldn't get to her in time. They just keep coming: a never ending torrent wall of people who screamed and killing in their panicked frenzy. Nothing existed in that moment but for me to get to her and for them to get away.

And she had died.

Thousands had died that day but she was the only one that mattered to me. The fires burned long into the night and the terrified howls are forever seared into my mind. I was to late.

I was always too late when it came to things that mattered.

Khan may not be a great person, but Eli is wrong when he says that Khan is the monster. I was the one who couldn't save her. I was the one who failed…and I was the one who watched helplessly as her life slipped away. The medics came into the smoldering ruins to drag her corpse away and to this day the city is still no more than a pile of ash.

...

Eli used to live in my house: he and Zero. But, the moment he heard Khan was moving in, an ultimatum was declared. Him or Khan.

_Who's it going to be? Who matter more to you, Ze'eva? Me or the murderor?_

Zero had watched on with wide fearful eyes and tried to make himself as small as possible.

_Eli, this is stupid. Come on. You're acting like a child._

_Me? A 'child'? He throws a tantrum and kills thousands! You know what he did to her! Come on, Ze'eva! What are you, blind? He's dangerous! He's a killer! He KILLED her!_

In the end...he left and took his stuff with him. Zero and he had always been close, and, when Eli vacated, Zero went with him. Now, they're staying somewhere in town-some two bit motel in the shady part of town with a cheap room and faulty electricity. People are shot on the streets for simply wearing the wrong colored shirts.

_'But it's safer'_ he insisted, _'than being anywhere near_ him.'

Well, the kid needs to make his own decisions and learn from his mistakes. And it'd keep him safer. Attempting to punch Khan out would not help anyone in the long run. It'd make Khan hate us more than he already does and put my baby brother on his kill list. After hearing about the late Admiral's untimely demise, I more than determined not to let that happen.

But Eli is wrong.

...

"It was his fault. He's the reason it happened."

That may be true.

But he wasn't the one who killed her.

I was.


	21. Chapter 21

**WARNING: This chapter contains both the 'feels' as well as a plot twist. Enjoy.**

**Chapter 21**

Every day, Ze'eva leaves work early and either Truk or Cassie picks him up. Cassie now oversees the training and Truk the normal day to day operations. Ze'eva herself is too distracted to be bothered with dealing with it…and finally, she stops showing up and spends entire days away. Truk cooks dinner and plays with the children. By now, the kids even approach Khan and he'll tell them stories of Earth and just how different everything is there.

It never ceases to amaze them.

**…**

"Where is Ze'eva?" Khan asks Truk after the third day of her being missing.

"Why?" Truk raises an eyebrow. "Worried?" Khan scowls at him and the Truk smiles lightly at him. "She's fine." There's a small catch in his voice and he leans backwards in his chair.

Khan doesn't really like anyone outside of his family but he finds Truk's and Ze'eva's open personality and lack of hostility comforting, but this is starting to get annoying. All this secrecy.

"But _where _is she?" he growls threateningly but Truk simply shakes his head and shrugs, but Khan knows that he knows where she is.

"Where my wife is is her business. What's going on doesn't concern you." Again, that look of sadness and hopelessness. Khan knows the man's heart is breaking for his spouse, but he doesn't know why.

"You will tell me where she is."

"No." Truk rises to his feet and Khan rises with him. "I will not. Looks like you're with me today. Ready?" Without waiting he goes to gather up the twins, Arielle, and Aaron.

Today, they take the children with them into the SAR—yet another abnormality.

Arielle giggles and runs off to the medic bay to entertain the injured and the twins follow after her excitedly. Aaron reaches up and grabs Khan's hand, his head resting lightly against his leg. Khan raises an eyebrow at the small boy but says nothing as he picks him up and holds the tyke lightly in his arms.

"Where is Ze'eva?" Khan tries again.

"With Cassie." Truk walks away towards engineering and Khan sighs in irritation.

"Do you know where your mother is?" The boy shakes his head and leans lightly against Khan's side. "What is wrong with you?"

"I don't feel so good. I think I'm sick."

"If you throw up on me, you will not have to worry about being sick." Khan narrows his eyes at the child and then freezes slightly as he begins to choke and sputter, unable to drawl breathe. What is wrong with him? Is this an asthma attack? He runs quickly towards the medbay and feels something wet against his shirt. The boy is crying, his body shuddering lightly.

"It's okay." Khan pats his back lightly and rushes into the medbay. "This boy needs help!" The Vulcan girl, Alieth, takes Aaron him Khan and quickly begins to look him over. "What is wrong him?"

"I do not know. There is nothing obstruction the airway."

"Asthma?"

"No." She pushes a button. "Truk Harrison to the medbay. Repeat: Truk Harrison is needed in the medbay."

"That's my brother!" The twins run up and Alieth gives them a stern look.

"I request everyone leave and wait in the receptionist area outside." Her voice is flat and monotonous. No one moves. "OUT!" The children scurry out and Alieth grabs Khan's arm to stop him from leaving as well. He looks at her carefully and she presses an air mask into his hand. "Press this to his over his mouth and his nose and I need to contact and ambulance."

"Isn't this place a hospital in and of itself?"

"Even we are short on medical capabilities. He will benefit greatly from the hospital in town. We are better trained but they have more medications, the ones he needs we do not have." She leaves them alone.

Khan looks down at Aaron and sees his face turning red as he coughs and gags. His eyes are red and puffy and his cheeks are slicked by a steady stream of tears. Truk runs into the room and races over to his son, his head gently tussling the boy's hair and his other hand wrapping around the boy's forearm.

"How long," Truk asks. "Has been like this?"

"About two minutes." Khan says lightly and looks back at the child—there was still no improvement.

"Thank you." He says quietly and Khan's eyes shoot up from the boy to rest curiously upon the worried man in front of him. "Thank you for helping him."

Before Khan can reply the ambulance screams outside and medical personnel rush in to drag the boy away. Alieth helps them load him up and Truk runs to grab the twins and Arielle runs behind him. Khan follows at a quick jog, easily overtaking the emotional group and keeping pace with the desperate father. He takes the car keys out of Truk's pocket and helps him strap in the children without a word. Finishes, Truk moves to go around the front of the car to the driver's seat and Khan shoves him towards the passenger's door instead.

"I'm driving. Get in."

He drives quickly and at least twenty miles over the speed limit. No one pulls him over. No one cares. The car screams to a stop and Truk explodes out of it, taking the children with him. They run into the hospital, gasping for air, hearts racing.

"What's going on?" A familiar voice demands and Khan turns in surprise. Ze'eva? What was she doing here? "Well? What happened?" Cassie walks up beside her and looks at the group worriedly.

"I'll take the kids outside so you guys can talk." Without a word Cassie and the children go outside the automatic doors and the three look at each other.

"It's Aaron." Truk says softly and Ze'eva nods. "It's getting worse."

"Yeah," She sighs, shoulders slumping. "I've noticed."

"What is it? Allergies?"

"No. It's not allergies or asthma—it's worse. I've seen kids with it before. It develops around the age of three and by the age of four they are dead…I didn't want to worry you." She stares at the floor and horror fills Truk's chest and an icy hand squeezes his heart.

"Why?" He chokes out and Khan suddenly feels sorry for the man—he knows what it is like to have your family in danger. "Why him?"

The woman shakes her head, "I wish I knew."

"You!" A Vulcan explodes into the waiting room and punches Khan squarely across his jaw. Growling Khan surges forward to catch the offender by his shirt and he pins him roughly against the wall by his throat. Angry blue eyes glare back at him. Eli? Ze'eva's brother? The boy, no more than a teenager, shoves Khan and he allows himself to be moved backward.

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" He lunges forward again to hit Khan but he moves easily out of the way. "IT'S YOUR FAULT SHE'S GOING TO DIE!" A fist connects to Khan's stomach but he doesn't even feel the pain. He pushes the boy away from him and glares at the boy.

"Who?" He says calmly, anger coursing through his veins.

"My sister." Ze'eva says softly before putting herself between the two. "That's enough, Eli."

"Yeah, of course." Eli swipes his nose with his sleeve as a small trickle of green blood escape. "Protect the murderer." Turning on his heel he marches quickly outside.

"Your sister?" Khan inquires and now everything makes sense.

"Yep. Before the Human Vulcan Wars my father kidnapped my two sisters and left in his ship. For years I had thought they had died. When the war ended they had escaped and made contact and we had agreed to meet…in San Francisco. The day you crashed the ship, my youngest sister, Roni, was badly injured and fell into a coma. She still hasn't woken up. The doctor told us a few weeks ago that she never would."

Tears escape and the woman looks at the ground. "We'll be pulling the plug in a few days." She shrugs. "There no point in continued medical care. She's not alive. A machine is breathing for her. A machine is pumping her heart—she has no brain activity. She and Eli were close so…he's taking it pretty hard."

Khan is silent for a moment, digesting the information. "I can save her."

Ze'eva looks up at him, "What?"

"I said, 'I can save her'." He puts his hand lightly on his shoulder and, for once, she doesn't flinch away from the physical contact.

She stands there in shock. "_No one_ can 'save' her. She's already gone and why would you even care? What's it to you if she lives or she dies?"

Khan sighs. "It was my fault she was injured in the first place. Would it not be the right thing to offer to help her?" He pauses, deep in thought. "And why would you help me after all that I had done? After I hurt your family and took San Francisco to its knees? Why would you treat me decently? He was right—I am a murderer."

"I don't know. I just…had to. I can't explain it—it was just a gut feeling."


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

She paces wildly back and forth in the waiting room. Khan walks out of the doctor's office and watches her curiously, his head tilted ever so slightly to the right in silent confusion.

"She hates hospitals; she's been pacing this room for hours before you guys even got here." Cassie gives Khan the explanation with a wearied shrug. "It's her thing, she does it when she's worried or in extremely deep thought."

"And why is she doing it now: is she worried or thinking?"

"I don't know…both, probably." Cassie admits slowly before looking back to her friend. She sighs and looks at Khan before cautiously saying, "Look…about the other day…when I, um…"

"Forget about it." He sits a few seats away from her. "I provoked you to aggravation and got my just deserts." He narrows his eyes at her, "But it would not be permissible for you to repeat those actions a second time." She swallows and nods shakily in understanding; he stands up, thoroughly satisfied that she had received his thinly veiled warning.

**…**

I hate this place. It's too loud, too bright, too crowded. It's hard to breath. The waiting room is packed full of the injured and ill and my skin is crawling, and burning, and itching where it accidently made contact with someone. My ear howls as multiple chaotic and clashing sounds attack: mothers' sobbing, children screaming, the doctors' false words of comfort. Gurneys squeal as they're wheeled down the rickety hallways and the lights flicker ever so slightly.

_Something is wrong with their electricity. _

_How can they properly look after my son if they can't even fix their own lights?_

Another person runs into me: this one a woman, who is retching, the pools of vomit narrowly missing my shoes. 'Watch it!' I want to snap, instead I pace faster. The noise grows and I slam the palms of my hands against my ears…but it doesn't help.

"Ze'eva?" Cassie yells and I flinch, quickening my pace still more. "Ze'eva what's wrong?" I can't breathe! I can't think! "Ze'eva you're having a panic attack. You need to calm down. Calm down, Ze'eva!"

_And it's crowded and it stinks. That woman threw up on the floor and it stinks. Roni is dead. My mother is dead. My son is dying. And it's too crowded in here—all these people are stealing the oxygen! I need to get of here but I can't leave! I can't leave my son but I need to get out of here!_

The lights flicker off for a minute before jumping back on.

A hand clamps down on my wrist and I try to jerk away.

**…**

He has an iron grip on her wrist and very carefully pulls her outside. She writhes and struggles in his grasp but it does nothing to loosen his hold.

"It is alright. You need to calm down. Relax." Khan says, releasing her arm. The woman looks terrified and Khan can almost hear the faint beating of her heart as it races wildly in her chest. Her eyes water a little but she refuses to cry.

"Just try to breath. It will pass."

He was right, in a few minutes, the panic seems to seep out of her body and she stops hyperventilating…although she still inhales deeply.

"Better?" He asks.

"Yeah…sure. I guess so."

"He will be fine. He is a strong for a child."

**…**

He doesn't know anything. He didn't see child after child with the same symptoms die. He didn't have to watch it or bury their bodies when they finally succumbed—he knows nothing about this, but I nod anyway.

Khan studies me for a moment before walking back inside the hospital without a backward glance. I sigh and lean against the hard hospital wall and slide down until I'm seating. I wrap my arms around my legs, close my eyes, and lean my head against my knees. This is a very bad day for me. Before I know it, I'm asleep.

**…**

_The sky was clear and Eli, Zero, and I were running quickly. We couldn't believe it. We had finally found them! We'll be a family again! No more fear or wondering if they were alive or hurt…everything was going to be okay. Today was our day and nothing was going to go wrong._

_And then a high droning noise sounds and we look up to see a black starship falling out of the sky. _

_What the heck?! _

_"__Ze'eva what's going on?" Zero looks at me, brown eyes going wide_

_"__Get down!" I scream and we curl into balls and cover our ears with our hands. The droning turns to a high pitched howl and the people around me begin to scream and run. _

_Something hard slams into the ground, throwing us several feet away. Dust and debris jump into the air as I shakily fight to my feet. A man clad in black slams into me and growls in irritation, pushing me away from him. I never saw his face. The force of his shove makes me spin into a wall and I fall to the ground, my entire body trembling._

_I cough as smoke leaps into my lungs and Eli runs over and helps me to my feet. Together, the three of us begin to run and I watch the street signs. They were supposed to meet us at a book store, I think. We need to see if they are okay._

There! There it is!

_My sister, Hali is screaming. She's standing on her feet, her finger pointed at someone else. All I can see of that other person is their tennis shoes: pink and scruffy._

_"__Hali? Hali? What's wrong with you? Hali?!" Eli yells and he runs over to her._

_"__RONI!" She screams and Eli wraps his arms around her as she goes ballistic. "RONI, GET UP! RONI!" My heart drops as I look again at the form and move to see its face. _

Oh, no. Not Roni. Please don't let it be little Roni!

_But it is Roni._

_Quickly, I drop to my knees to see if she is breathing._

_Nothing._

_What about a pulse? Is her heart still beating at lease? I put my finger on the side of her neck and my stomach drops._

_Nothing._

_For hours I do chest compressions and when the medics finally arrive, my arms feel like Jell-O, but I kept her heart beating. I kept her alive. Hali has collapsed into Eli's side and Zero sits next to her. Eli hugs her tightly and cries with her; even Zero, who has never even met Roni or Hali, has trouble keeping his eyes dry._

**…**

"Hello? Do you require assistance? Are you injured?" I yawn and look up at the voice that just addressed me. Is that Spock? Why in the world is _he_ here? "Ze'eva? This is quite the surprise. The captain and I were told we could find you here; however, I had assumed that you would be inside with your family. Is everything alright?"

"Yes, Spock." I make no move to get up. "I am feeling fine although I am a little cold; it was a little packed inside. Why were you looking for me?"

"We came to check up on Khan's progress." Kirk reaches his hand out and I allow him to pull me to my feet. "So, how's it going? Has he killed anyone yet?" The blond captain grins jokingly.

I smile back, "Nah, that's next week."

I can almost imagine Spock rolling his eyes at us before we all walk inside.

"Hello, _captain. _Have you come back to punch me over and over until your arm weakens, or this that tomorrow?" Khan's eyes blaze and they harden even more when Spock walks in._ "Mr. Spock." _He acknowledges coldly, "What brings you here?"

"We're just checking up on our favorite Augment; so, how's it going? Have you experienced any irrational urges to commit mass genocide lately?" Kirk jokes and Khan looks as if he's about to kill the captain.

"Captain, perhaps it would be wise the divert from your current conversation topic." Spock advises carefully and Kirk nods, seeming to notice for the first time how close Khan looks to crushing his skull in.

"Good point. So," Kirk looks at me, "How is the rehabilitation going?"

Khan watches me carefully but I ignore him and think for a moment: he almost seems to be a part of the family by now. He has made no attempts to harm anyone only threatens people when he feels he absolutely needs to, and I haven't caught him trying to manipulation anyone either. Rather than attacking someone, he goes to his room and slams the door. Even though the act itself is childish, it's a far safer option than him taking a life.

"It's going pretty well so far. There are definite signs of improvement."

"And how are you doing?" Kirk lowers his voice a little and studies my face. "Everything okay?"

"If one more person asks me if I am 'okay' I am going to commit mass genocide." Khan smirks faintly in amusement. "For the last and final time—and pass the word on—_I am fine."_

"You sound distressed which would indicate that are you in not 'fine' Mrs. Harrison." Spock says quickly and I glare at him.

"You want to get hit, don't you?" I inquire before walking turning my back on the irritating Vulcan and walking away. Khan walks beside me and chuckles slightly. "What are you laughing at?"

"The idea of you committing mass genocide: you can't even deny an orphan a home and now you're threatening to kill hundreds? It is an amusing paradox."

I roll my eyes at him and sit down next to Cassie, "Anything yet?" I ask and she shakes her head.

"No, not yet." She says with a yawn. She's been sitting with me in this stupid hospital for hours in Roni's hospital room and even now, with Aaron in the emergency room, she still won't leave. Despite her severe lack of sleep or sustenance she refuses to leave me here alone. She's a good friend, Cassie.

"Uncle Khan! Uncle Khan!" Elsa grabs the former dictator's long black sleeve and pulls him over to a chair. "Tell us a story! Tell us about Earth!"

"He's not your uncle!" I yell but they don't notice.

The girls sit around him on the floor and look up at him expectantly. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kirk smirk a little when Khan begrudgingly sits down and Spock's eyebrows rise up ever so slightly in surprise as Khan begins to tell the twins and Arielle about mountains, and rivers, and some place he calls 'London'.

"Well," I hear Kirk murmur softly to his first officer. "I think she was right. This definitely looks like progress."


	23. Chapter 23

**This one is a little lengthy but it all seemed to fit together enough to keep it as one chapter.**

**Chapter 23**

"Hello? Harrisons?"

Khan blinked and looked around. The children were sleeping on the floor, Truk was missing (probably in the bathroom), captain Kirk and Spock were dozing over in the corner, and Ze'eva was leaning lightly against Cassie's side, both of them unconscious. He shakes his head and stands, careful not to step on any of the girls as he walks over them to shake Ze'eva awake. She squints at him and yawns.

"Hm?"

"Harrison family?" The nurse calls out again and Ze'eva jumps ti her feet instantly.

"Yes?"

"Follow me please." Khan stays in the waiting room as the nurse and Ze'eva hurry away. This was a journey she would need to take alone.

**…**

The stench of antiseptic is overpowering. I fight the urge to gag as the nurse leads me through the world's largest hallway, my heart hammering away in my chest.

"Here we are." The nurse leads me to a room, points at the door, and walks away.

Okay, then…thanks?

"Hey," I open the door slowly and peak in. "How are you feeling?"

"Mommy!" He squeals and his entire face lights up. I smile happily and run, lifting him into a tight hug.

"It's okay now, I got you. It's alright." We stay like that for a few minutes before the doctor walks in.

"Hello, Mrs. Harrison?"

"Yes?"

"We plan on keeping your son overnight for some observation but he should be cleared to go home tomorrow morning. Good day." He leaves and I look back down at Aaron.

"Go back to sleep, honey. I'm not going anywhere—I promise." He lies down and closes his brown eyes and I ruffle his curly brown hair as his breathing evens out and he slips back into his dreams.

"How's he doing?" Kirk walks in and looks Aaron sadly.

"He's stable now." I say softly and the captain walks into the room.

"I'm glad to hear it. You sure everything is okay, Khan wise? We cab have moved somewhere else, if you want."

"It's fine."

"You sure?"

I don't even hesitate, "Yes. I'm positive."

**…**

Cassie, after a very long and lengthy argument, is finally persuaded (by me) to take the kids home and get some sleep. I offered that Khan go with the, but he just shook his head saying he'd rather stay here. Ever since Cassie drove him home that one day, he seems to be avoiding being left alone with her in a car. I've asked her what was up with that but she just turns red and shrugs, her eyes a little scared…so I dropped the subject.

For now.

Yawning, we all walk outside. I carry Elsa, Truk carries Laurel, and Khan heads up the rear with a sleeping Arielle in his arms.

"See, you!" She says as she drives away and I send a silent prayer up that she'll make it home without crashing.

**…**

The next day we go home. Aaron runs and plays just like the other kids but I can't help but watch them because I know that it will happen again.

And again.

Until he finally loses the battle.

Truk wraps an arm around my shoulder and I lean into his side. I want him to me that everything is going to be alright, even though I know that it won't be. But we stand there in silence before I finally break away from him. Truk cooks dinner, Khan sits in his room reading a book off of his PADD, and I sit in on the outside deck, watching the kids romp and play. A black car speeds down the road and I quickly call the kids inside.

I don't know this car.

It pulls to a stop four feet away from the deck and I watch it warily.

"You lost, stranger?" I call out and part of me is screaming at me to get a phaser.

"I'm a little new around here: just looking at the neighborhood, is all." A pale white human man with rust colored hear and dressed all in black says quietly, an undercurrent of danger and menace filling his voice.

This isn't a neighborhood; we're the only house for miles.

"Well, you've looked around. Leave. Now." I narrow my eyes at him threateningly and he grins before walking to his car and driving slowly away.

This guy was trouble and something told me that he was going to be back. And it wouldn't be pretty when he does.

"Who was that?" I wheel around and see Khan staring at the foreign vehicle as it throws up clouds of dust in its wake.

"Trouble." I say and he nods in silent agreement.

"It may be wise to invest in buying a phaser." He says softly before walking back inside and I raise an eyebrow at his words; weird, it's like he just read my mind.

_Is he a wizard?_

**…**

"Ze'eva! Phone!" Truk calls and I walk back inside.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's me, Kirk. Is it alright if Spock and I crash at your place for a few nights? The Enterprise is undergoing some last minute repairs and all the hotels are booked."

I didn't know we had hotels around here…

"Just you two? No one else?" I ask, thinking quickly. We have a spare bedroom but it's on the bottom level across from Khan's…to put them there may be…disastrous. He can't physically harm them but that doesn't mean that he won't try to at least cause a few problems.

There's more than one way to break someone…and something tells me that Khan knows them all.

"Um…there may be a few others as well..."

"Okay, then: who?" I want to strangle this guy. He calls to ask if he and one person can stay and now there may be a whole horde of people invading. Is this what counts for manners in Star Fleet today?

"Um me think…um…me, Spock, Scotty, Keenser, Uhura, Bones, and Chekov. Is that alright? I've found lodging for everyone else in my crew but it would seem that we got the short stick of the drawl."

I inhale deeply and sigh, "I've got one bedroom, cap. If you want me to house that many people, you better bring some air mattresses and your own blankets…and I don't think I have enough groceries to feed all of you."

"Don't worry, I'll pay you money for housing and food, we just need a roof over our heads." Kirk says smoothly and I find myself nodding slightly. That sounded fair enough.

"How long are you guys planning on staying here?" I put a hand to my forehead and lean against the wall. I am an incredibly antisocial person, and now I'm going to have seven more people moving in: _this is just_ _wonderful_.

"I don't know, it depends on the speed of the repairs, but hopefully no more than a few weeks."

"Alright," I groan. "I accept your challenge, but you people have to eat before you get here; I _am not_ dealing with all that cooking tonight!"

"Deal." He hangs up.

**…**

Khan walks stiffly into the room and looks at Ze'eva.

"Is something wrong?" He keeps his voice low.

"We've apparently just adopted seven Star Fleet members for a few weeks. This is going to be _fun_." She rolls her eyes and he can feel his own irritation grow slightly in his chest.

"_The Enterprise_?" He inquires and he fights to keep his tone neutral and she nods at his words.

"The one and only—don't kill anyone."

"Thanks for having faith in my self control." He says sarcastically and she grins at him.

"I told you when you first got here that I didn't trust you any more than I could throw you, and you've put on some pounds, old man."

He raises an eyebrow at the memory but doesn't comment.

**…**

"So, thanks for giving us a place to stay on such short notice." Kirk says and I nod to him. Khan (barefoot, and in black sweatpants, and a dark grey t-shirt) glowers at the group but thankfully doesn't engage any them.

"You know, when someone says that you can count on them to help you 'anytime' I generally thought it meant at a more convenient hour." I yawn and the blond captain smirks at me laughingly, his blue eyes shining. He called around noon and got here around two in the morning.

"So, what are the room arrangements to be?" Spock inquires and I shrug lightly.

"I honestly do not know and neither do I care. It is both yours and the captain's crew, I assumed that you two would be more than capable of assigning sleeping arrangements, Mr. Spock. I looked around and we may be able to make two more bedrooms than I originally had thought: the one by Khan's bedroom, a guest room upstairs by the girls' bedroom, and a small storage space off of the kitchen. I would appreciate it if Uhura and not a man occupied the room by my daughters' room and the living room can hold everyone else."

"Alright, thanks."

The crew yawns and Kirk quickly assigns sleeping arrangements. He will take the room across from Khan (it has a couch that Spock will sleep on), Uhura will get the room upstairs, and Bones the storage space. Scotty, Chekov, and Keenser have the living room.

"How long are you staying?" Khan scowls.

"It is unknown." Spock replies and one by one, the Enterprise's crew goes off to their own temporary quarters.

"This is going to be a long week." I say, yawning again. _Why did they have to get here so late? What is wrong with these people?_

"Affirmative." Khan agrees.

**…**

"So, this is the SAR, huh?" Kirk looks around doubtfully. The walls and floors are white and sterile and just about everyone here is a child.

"Yep; isn't it fabulous?" I say and Kirk hesistates a moment before nodding.

"Yeah, it sure it…something. So…what exactly do you guys do here?"

"We are first respondents to disasters both natural and unnatural and give medical aide to those who need it."

"Why all the kids?"

"They're orphans; it was either give them a job or watch them starve. Since they're young it was relatively simple train them whereas it'd take forever to teach an adult. Children's brains are more flexible so they learn and adapt faster to their surroundings, and, out in the field, you have to constantly adapt as the situation changes."

"Is it dangerous?"

"Sometimes, but life in and of itself is dangerous isn't it? Shouldn't you be with your ship? You know, 'making repairs' and stuff?"

"Nah, engineering has that under control. I'm more curious about this place than anything. So…why are the plaster and building materials?" Five teenage boys walk passed, each one carrying a large board. More follow with hammers, screws, and plaster.

"We're putting in a few walls and taking some down. A few departments need more space. After we get down erecting the walls, I'm going to get those with artistic abilities to paint them. Then we'll put in some carpeting."

"Cool, what colors are you planning on painting place?" Kirk asks, ducking under a board.

"Anything but white."

**…**

For three days, the entire SAR (outside the new recruits who are still in isolation until their training is complete) works tirelessly to get the job done. By the time it's finished, the place looks nothing like it did before.

"Hey," I walk up to Khan. "So, what was it like?"

He looks at me curiously. "What was what like?"

"Being best friends with Jesus." I say and he rolls his eyes.

"My that is _funny_." He says sarcastically and I smile at him.

"Do you know, of course, that that was only a joke right? I mean, we both know you were there when Moses spit the sea. So, do you want to help paint?"

"No."

"You sure?"

"Yes. Alright." I start to walk away. "Hey, Cassie! I win! Give me my money!"


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

I'm working late tonight. It's roughly ten to midnight and about four hours ago we officially released the new recruits into the compounds. Thanks to Cassie, they're all working and operating like a proper team should. Since we only have five ships right now, I'm putting each group on with the crew of the senior fliers—that'll whip them into shape soon enough.

Blue lights flash erratically on the walls and I rave to the strategy room AKA control room.

"What's up?" I ask and Tom frowns at the screen and I walk over to join him. One of the birds, The _Runningfawn_, is equipped with a thermal scanner and was running its usual rounds when it picked up something…bizarre.

"Are they human, do you think?" I ask and Tom shrugs.

"I don't know…"

I sigh and pick up the communicator, "_Runningfawn_, stay in the immediate area and prepare to put wheels on the ground: I'm on my way." I turn to Tom, "I'm going in the field: alert my crew to meet me in the hangar bay and to be in the _Wolfsong _in five minutes."

**…**

"Everyone all set?" Ze'eva asks. Alieth nods from the med bay, and Truk, acting as co-pilot, yawns. Khan stares at the back of her chair and sits dejectedly in the back with the children and Cassie (who is acting as engineer).

"Yep," Cassie chirps, her fingers clutching her coffee cup possessively.

"Hey! Wait up!" Four of the new recruits jump on. "Request permission to come aboard?" One says haltingly (it's the mini Khan kid…_great_…).

"What are you specializing in?" Truk asks briskly and the boy is quick to respond.

"Medical field." His voice is more confident now, more sure.

"Sit down and strap in. We're taking off in five seconds!" The moment the buckles snap into place, they're taking off into the night.

**…**

"There's nothing _here_." Truk grumbles: "it's just an open field, Ze'eva. Are they sure they saw people here on the scanners?"

I nod slightly and speak into my communicator. "_Runningfawn_, do a fly-by and sweep the area again with your thermal detectors." _Did they move? _It looked as if they were lying down and none had been moving. I had assumed they were unconscious...but unconscious people don't get up and walk away.

_Am I missing something, here?_

**…**

Khan looks around wordlessly and strains his senses out to try to detect the missing people: his keen ears and advanced hearing pick up nothing but silence. Nothing, not even the wind, dares to present itself to the searching team. Some call out loudly shouting 'hey' but no one shouts back.

"So, now what?" Cassie asks and Khan sees Ze'eva shrugs a little in response and sighs quietly.

"Truk, you and the guys make a large fire; We need to keep the Cataclysms at bay. Everyone else, fan out and start looking for any sign of someone being in the area. If they're wandering around the forest at night, it won't end well for them. It's better that we find them before something else does. Medical team: stay close to the ship and be ready to take in patients."

Soon, a large fire is jumping into the air, turning the field blood red and they all look at the hard, white clay ground critically. Nothing. Not even footprints. Khan moves easily through the thick blue underbrush and Ze'eva walks ten feet away from him at his right. A sharp snap sounds and they wheel around. One of the new medics had followed them. She gives the new recruit (the tall boy with light blue eyes, and dark brown hair, and ram-rod straight back) a pointed look and Khan watches the boy march calmly back inside the ship like a trained soldier, his back painfully straight and his head held high.

"Cassie, both you and Alieth are in charge of the others in your stations: you both take two of the recruits and keep them in line." Ze'eva adds and the two walks calmly inside, Cassie instantly taking charge of the dark-haired boy from earlier and Khan can just make her voice out as she reprimands him for leaving his station.

For a few minutes, Khan stops in his place and watches the search party fanning out and moving slowly through the thick brush before Ze'eva suddenly freezes mid-step, every muscle of hers tensed.

**…**

Thud!

_What the heck was that?_

I pause and look around. _Where did it come from?_

"Ze'eva? What's wrong?" Truk calls and I shake my head carefully.

"Nothing: just keep looking." Truk nods and moves forward carefully.

"_Runningfawn_," Ze'eva says quietly. "What've you got? Anything we can use here? Is there anyone else in the area? Do you see them?"

"We see you guys and there are definitely people down there; how do you not see them?" The ship flies low over the ground, the bottom of its wings only thirty feet above Khan's head.

"Where?" My eyes do another sweep of the area around me: there is nothing here.

"You can't see them?! They're all around you!"

"Hm…well, I don't _see_ anyone…are you sure that scanner is working properly?"

THUD!

There is _again_! What is that noise coming from?

"Of course it's working! I did the repairs myself!"

"Shhh!"

"What?"

"Shut up, Runningfawn!" Everyone in the search party freezes to look at me but I ignore them.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

**…**

Khan's blue eyes narrow faintly when he sees her drop to the ground like she is about to do a push up and put her ear to the wet dirt, the soil plastering itself to the side of her face. _What is she doing?_

"Ze'eva what are you—?" Truk asks.

"Shhh!"

"Ze'eva—."

"Shut up, Truk! Listen!" She snaps. Khan holds his breathe and strains his ears to pick up any sound that she could have possibly detected…but nothing important presents itself. _She's finally lost it, hasn't she?_

"I think I've got something! Someone get a shovel! _Runningfawn_, get back to HQ and send another ship out and as many shovels as you can find and we need more medics!" I order and one of the medical staff hurls a heavy shovel into my hands (I knew it was good idea to keep a few of those on board! And they called me crazy. Ha! In your faces!).

"Roger that, _Wolfsong._ We're on our way now, over."

I dug furiously and within minutes the shovel is clanking hard against something incredibly solid. Khan walks over and helps me pry it open and we blink in surprise.

It's a little girl.

She had been buried alive.

**…**

"What in the world?" Ze'eva mutters and Khan shakes his head.

Together they watch the child draw in a shallow breathe before Ze'eva jumps out of shock and calls the medical team over. The _Runningfawn _is gone and there were at least twenty that they had seen on the scanners. Where they all underground, too?

This was not looking good at all.

If they were, they probably wouldn't have much air left.

"Truk!" He runs over and Ze'eva pushes a shovel into his hands. "Use the firelight. See? There are mounds in the dirt. Under each mound is a child. Start digging." He nods and Ze'eva passes Khan a shovel. "Do you mind helping?" She asks.

"No." He walks away and begins to dig tirelessly.

Within minutes, he has another shallow grave opened and has moved on to the next. By the time the _Runningfawn_ returns with at least ten more kids, all armed with shovels. The minutes stretch out and the medical team huffs, exhaustion seeping into their bones. How many were left now? They didn't know. They didn't care. Every movement was robotic as they automatically tended to the wounded and fought to keep them alive.

The _Runningfawn_ screams into sighs and medics pour out of her belly, each of them armed with shovels. They hand the shovels to the already exhausted medics and the fresh ones take over the wounded. Cassie yawns and her arms quake but she forces the shovel head into the ground and works beside Khan as he digs up another shallow coffin effortlessly. Medics rush over and pry the lid off and as they drag the next one out the two move on to the next mound and the next.

An hour has passed and so, far they have found no other signs in the _Runningfawn_'s thermal scanner of anyone else being imprisoned beneath the earth…then again, they could have died.

Ze'eva drops to her knees, panting: "_Runningfawn_, go back to base and refuel. Then send out Fang and five recruits to continue doing thermal sweeps just to make sure. Tell him to go out like a spiral and call the medbay to warn them that they're going to be in business: take twenty of most critical condition kids back with you and we'll start herding the rest that way soon." Ze'eva says as she stands and walks slowly towards the _Wolfsong_.

"Cassie, how many kids do we have here?" Truk asks.

"About thirty."

"Man…"

**…**

I sigh and lean lightly against a tree. Khan soaks everything in and stands stiffly next to the _Wolfsong_. He looks at me for a moment before turning to watch the medics hurriedly working over the kids. Most of them are stable and conscious…but some aren't faring so well…

"Ze'eva! We need you!" I run to Cassie who is holding down a screaming boy who claws and bucks in her grasp.

Quickly, I inject him with a light sedative and watch him slowly weaken and drift asleep. "Thanks…" She pants and I nod wordlessly. I turn to walk away and then freeze. Slowly, I turn his left wrist over and it feels as if all the blood has just slipped out of my body.

**…**

"Ze'eva? Ze'eva!" Cassie shouts. The woman is not moving. Her face is pale and she stares wide eyed at the sleeping boy in front of her. Suddenly, she seems to snap out of her daze and walks over to a different child, inspects their wrist, and moves on to the next, and the next.

"Ze'eva!" Cassie calls. "Ze'eva, what's wrong with you? What's going on?" Her friend runs forward to grab Ze'eva's arm but she jerks away quickly as if she had burned by the mere physical contact.

"They were experiments." Ze'eva says after she expected each and every one. "They were created by Sector 31—look at their wrists. See? Do you see those numbers? Those letters? These kids were created in a lab."

"Then why bury them?" Truk questions. "Why go to the trouble of creating them if only to bury them?"

"Because Sector 31 has been banned. I guess they figured that if they couldn't live here, then nothing they created could either."

"And so they buried them alive?! Why? They're children!"

"They are not children." Khan walks up behind her and she flinches away. Ze'eva's eyes narrow at Khan and he continues, "Not to Sector 31. They care nothing for what they create and kill indiscriminately. All that matters to them is research and results. To them, these children are no more than lab rats…and no less disposable." His voice is cold and hard.

"And how do you know?" Truk looks at Khan cautiously.

"You would be surprised to what I know of them." Khan stalks away and into the Wolfsong and the three shrug at each other before letting their eyes sweep across the kids.

"So, what are they?" Cassie asks the moment Khan is out of earshot.

"Augments." Ze'eva says quietly. "Don't tell anyone—_especially_ him." She nods towards the ship. "The last thing we need is for Khan _or_ Star Fleet to catch wind of this. If they do, they're dead for sure."


	25. Chapter 25

**Sorry about the last chapter. I know-it was awful, but I'll go back and rewrite it. It was an off day. Don't worry, this is one should be MUCH better than the last. Enjoy and please review.**

**Chapter 25**

_Clouds of icy breath spew from his mouth and he shivers, the coldness seeping down his spin and freezing his blood. All around him the other Augments crouch down in their cages, their eyes wide with worry and uncertainty._

_"__Are we going to be okay?" A young girl asks him and he shrugs wordlessly. How was he supposed to know? These scientists would do what they pleased with them whether or not they wanted it. They were not human._

_They were experiments._

_"__Khan?" She presses, her eyes mere moments from spilling over with hot, salty tears. __Every instinct tells him that no, it will most definitely _not_ be okay…but he forces himself to nod._

_"__Yes." He says softly and sits beside his friend. "We will be fine."_

_They were only twelve but already their lives knew the cruelty that the world so graciously allowed to inhabit its dark and icy depths. The older Augments look at them—their bodies broken and battered—before looking hopelessly at their feet. They would be the first to go—the prototypes of an inferior generation. Khan and his crew were created to replace them, and they knew it. __And when they screamed as the scientists tore them apart, no one would hear as the air, accentuation with violence, suddenly turned silent as they breathed their last. And no one would care. No one but the other experiments, all of which were awaiting their own doom, would care to hear or mourn their friends' premature demises._

_But they didn't matter in the eyes of the scientists._

_They weren't human._

_They were only self-aware lab rats._

_Nothing more._

**…**

Khan's eyes snap open and he breaths quickly, his breaths coming quick and fast. He's lying in his bed, the blue quilt wrapped around him tightly. Inhale. Exhale. He heart races quickly and he sits up, sweat dripping down his face and chest. His bare feet slap onto the hard wooden floors as he forces himself to sit up stiffly, his body shaking violently.

He hated his past.

But he hated remembering it more.

Quietly, he stands up and walks to his door. He'll get glass of water and then go back to bed. If he can't sleep, then he'll read for a while or glare at the ceiling. As long as he didn't have to dream about Sector 31 one, he'd be okay.

"Where are you going to keep them?" Khan freezes in his doorway and listens carefully to the hushed voices that are echoing ever so slightly: they're in the kitchen. _What was going on now?_ He thinks irritably. "Hello? Ze'eva? Did you hear me?"

"What about the barn?" She says carefully. "We could send a sanitations team in in a few hours to sterilize everything, move the bunks in, and all that fun." Khan imagines her rolling her blue-eyes. "This would keep the kids away from the SAR and there'd be less questions about them and their origins for sure if they were out of the public eye."

Khan's eyes narrow. _Are they're talking about those kids they dug up yesterday? _

He didn't see anything that seemed unusual about them.

"And then what?" Truk asks, his voice dripping unintentionally with doubt. "We just hide thirty kids in our backyard until they all grow up? How's that going to work out, hm?"

"I don't know…we could find them families to stay with, maybe? We can have them employed at the SAR and some of the senior members can take in groups of them-the perfect family."

"And what about Star Fleet?"

"They are _not_ to be involved in this situation under _any_ circumstances, whatsoever. They're just normal orphaned human children who got a little lost in the forest and are our newest charity project: got it? Great, get the memo out."

_Just what are you trying to hide, Ze'eva? _Khan wonders.

_And why do _you_ not trust Star Fleet? What horrors did they unleash upon you?_

It seemed the more Khan learned about this girl, the bigger the mystery that was shrouding her became.

"Are you sure this going to work?" Truk yawns. "What if it doesn't? What's the backup plan? Have you even gotten that yet? Do you understand just how dangerous this is?"

"Truk, everything will be _fine_, okay? You worry too much."

"And you don't worry _at all_." He says, his voice sounding slightly defeated. "What about your sister? What about Roni? How are you not worried about _that_? She's going to die in a few days, Ze'eva. What about our _children_? What happens to _them_ when someone figures out just what those kids are?" _'What' those kids are?_ Khan cocks his head slightly the side, his mind whirling. _What does he mean by that?_ "What about those notes you've been fining in the mail with that person threatening us, huh? How are you _not_ worried? This is dangerous-not some charity event! How can you not see that?!"

"I am…but I have more important things to do than to dwell on things that are just going to prohibit me from doing my job. We. Will. Be. Fine! Nothing is going to happen to us, and if it gets too bad, we'll leave...and…go to…Earth or something—I don't know." She snaps.

It was strange how easily she was taking this all in stride. A normal woman of her age would be broken down on the floor by now, sobbing about all of her troubles: Ze'eva simply sweeps it away only to analyze it all later. She's irritated but only because Truk keeps addressing it and bringing it up. Had he left it alone, she would be fine right now.

_What made her like this? How did a girl like her get so used to stress and chaos? _

_Did Star Fleet mold her into this?_

_Was she like him? Was she an experiment, too?_

Khan pushes the thought away quickly.

No.

She was strange, sure…but she was _not_ like him.

And she was _not_ one of his people.

"But what about _Roni_, your _sister_? What about our _children_? What about Aaron and his health problems? That guy said he could help Roni get better but…he's just a man, Ze'eva. You shouldn't put much hope in it."

"I don't _have_ any hope in it. She's already gone—she can't be saved."

"And if someone comes in here with a gun? Will _our children_ not matter enough to you for you to help them?"

"That person won't make it past the _doorway, _Truk! _No one_ is going to hurt our family and especially the kids! How dare you even think that!" Khan hears a thud and he creeps silently forward just in time to see Ze'eva shove Truk so that his back slams against the wall. Her fists ball up as if to punch him and she quickly takes a few hurried steps away from him as if afraid of what she'd do to it. It takes her a moment before she speaks again, her chest contracting widely as she takes deep breaths to help her calm down. Her voice is quiet. Controlled. "Look, Truk, we'll be fine—okay? Don't worry—I'll…I'll figure something out."

"Well, how long is the _Enterprise_'s people staying here? We can't hide this forever: especially if they're living right under our roof."

"A few more days—maybe to the end of the week. I talked to the captain last night: the repairs should be done soon enough and they'll take off."

"Do you really buy it? That their ship 'just so happened' to get damaged and they 'just so happened' to have nowhere else to go?"

"What? You think they're spying on us something? I think you've been hanging around Khan too much." The girl laughs quietly. "You're getting just a little too paranoid here."

"But you still love me," Khan can hear the smile in the man's voice and hears Ze'eva laughs again.

"Always." Without a word Khan slips back to his room to think. He never liked it when people kept secrets from him and he was determined to learn just what this one was.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

It takes an hour for them to thoroughly clean the barn and another hour to move in the necessary supplies. I stand on the porch, watching the progress from a distance. Kirk stands beside me and eyes the workers critically. Everyone else had left with the Enterprise's crew to assist with repairs leaving Khan, Spock, Kirk, Bones, Aaron, and me at home.

"Why are you guys doing all this? Wouldn't it be better for you to keep injured people at the SAR?" Kirk asks and I shrug at him. There's no way I'm telling him the truth—not if I want them to live. Because of Khan, anyone who has even a drop of Augment blood in them is seen as a monster; I won't sit back and watch them die because society doesn't think they have the right to live.

These kids had enough of that from the _real _monsters: Sector 31.

Captain Kirk may be a good man, but even he has to follow orders. And good men following the orders of the wicked are still accomplishing evil despite their intentions-good or bad.

"They're in quarantine for the time and I won't have them around my employees, Captain: a few of them have the stomach flu and we're shorthanded enough without everyone being out sick, especially with new recruits to train up."_ Technically, it's not exactly a lie—a few are actually sick…I just left out their origins…no biggie._

"Don't you have rooms that'll isolate them there…or maybe send them home?"

"The fresh air will do them good, captain. This isn't my first rodeo, you know, and I'm more than capable of handling the flu, _sir. _As for the 'send them home' option, unfortunately, they're all orphans. Perhaps, it would be better if you could command your people in peace and I command mine without your criticism, hm?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you weren't capable of leading your people. I just think it's a little strange—."

"I understand this." I say quickly, cutting him off. "But they are my responsibility."

"And where did you find them? Kind of a lot of people to just 'show up' one day, huh?"

"As I said, they're orphans. And they didn't 'show up': I asked them to join. This way they get shelter and food and I get more help. It's a win a win."

"But do you really need so many? And at such a young age?" Normally, I would be glad that someone was concerned about their welfare other than me, but this was getting annoying.

"Captain, let my rephrase my previous statement: stop telling me how to do my job or get your people and get out. Understood?"

His eyes narrow slightly and he nods. "Sure."

**…**

"So, tell me, Mr. Spock: how is your _dear_ mother doing these days?" Khan asks with mock innocence and Spock's eyebrows twitch—the only disturbance of motion on his otherwise still and passive face.

"My mother died several years ago when the planet Vulcan was destroyed, and what, may I inquire, sparked your sudden interest in her?"

"And how exactly did it _feel_ to watch her die, Mr. Spock?" Khan ignores his question, and a corner of his lips twitches upwards as the words leave his mouth, and he narrows his eyes in cold amusement. "But then again, you _can't_ _feel_, can you?" Spock's body quivers slightly with anger and his hands curl into loose fists, his eyes hardening into smoldering coals.

Khan continues to mercilessly goad the furious Vulcan calmly, his icy blue eyes dancing with excited mirth: "Did you love her Mr. Spock or is love _yet another_ emotion that_ eludes _you?" Khan says smoothly and Spock launches himself across the table with a roar, his fist connecting squarely with the Augment's jaw and the two men fall to the ground in a tangle of fists and fury just as Ze'eva and Kirk walk into the room.

"What in the the—?" Kirk says, stopping abruptly. "Spock! Khan! Stop this!" The two ignore him, too angry to hear his words. Ze'eva cocks her head to the side: one function of Khan's collar was to stop him from hurting people—apparently mental pain was not a factor.

_Interesting..._

"Spock!" Kirk lunges forward to grab his first officer's shirt and Khan leaps deftly away from the Vulcan and Spock plows into a wall. "Stand down!" He gets between Spock and the grinning Augment and glares at his first officer and Khan in turn, not once flinching away from Khan's chilly stare. "And that's an order!" He snaps.

Slowly, the Vulcan's breathing slows and evens and he nods slightly before standing. "My apologies, Captain." He walks out the room and outside, not once faltering in his steps.

"And you!" Kirk wheels around to glare at Khan. "What did you say to him?" The young Captain demands and Khan strides over to him and looms over him threateningly, Khan's smile still plastered to his face.

"What _did_ I say?" Khan feigns ignorance before shrugging. "Must have slipped my mind... _Captain_." He strides coyly away, his chin held high in the air and arrogance radiating off of him in tsunami sized waves. His bedroom door eases closed and Ze'eva sees Kirk open and close his fists angrily.

**…**

"Can you believe that guy?" Kirk yells and I shrug lightly.

"That was certainly…not good." I agree. "Do you want to maybe check on your first officer?" I suggest. "You know, see if he's okay? He looked pretty upset and by the way he practically ran out the door…"

Kirk nods, catching on. "Alright, good thinking. Bones!"

"Dammit, Jim! I was already on my way! Let's hunt him down and give him a full medical examination. You don't think I'll need a sedative do you?" McCoy asks as he breezes past Kirk, and Kirk rolls his eyes.

"No, Bones. I don't think that will be necessary." The two stride outside towards the forest after their Vulcan friend and I sigh with relief.

"About time they left." I mutter.

"I agree." Khan is standing in the kitchen, leaning casually against the doorway. "It is a shame it can't stay that way."

"You do realize, that that was rude, right?"

"Of course, I assumed that was obvious; that was why I did it."

"Alright but no more. I can't have you two ripping each other's throats out and getting someone hurt." Khan's eyes narrow at the order but I refuse to back down. "My children are _not_ going to get hurt because of your _boneheaded_ desire to anger some random Vulcan, and I already have enough to worry about financially without having to buy new furniture to replace what _you_ broke. Come on, you're like, what, thirty five? Grow up, man."

I turn to walk away and he grabs me sharply by my shoulder and forces me to turn around, his fingers digging into the flesh. Not quite painful, but pretty darn close.

"I would be careful with what I say if I were you," He growls.

"Or you'll what?" I retort. "Get a thousand watts of electricity through your skull and flop like a fish on my floor?" I jerk my shoulder out of his grasp and meet his glare with one of my own. "Yeah," I say sarcastically. "That'll show me, huh?"

"You dare challenge me?"

"Not 'challenge'— teach. Your actions today were childish; if you're so superior then_ act_ like it. This will change nothing. He'll still hate you and you will continue to hate him: nothing is getting accomplished."

"I am sorry." He says lightly but I shake my head.

"No you're not. You'll only do it again. If you were _truly_ sorry, you wouldn't have done it in the_ first place._ Did it ever occur to you that my son could have been in the room? What would have happened then, Khan? Did it ever occur to you that he was right upstairs?! What would have happened if he decided to walk down and see what was going on, huh? He could have died! Is your petty feud that important," I glare at him and he squirms a little under my scrutiny.

"But he wasn't in here." He says smoothly.

"But if he _had_ been?"

"What does it matter?" He snarls suddenly. "What does it matter if I ever improve? What is the point of living when my crew does not? What is the point of life if everything is lost in the end anyway? If everyone still dies? What does it matter if he dies today or fifty years from now if the end result is still achieved?"

I shrug. "What's the point of violence or manipulation if you have already failed to achieve your intended goals?" I shoot back at him and he flinches at my words as if I had just struck him, "You used those tactics before and failed—maybe those are the wrong tools to utilize, hm? Maybe it would beneficial to actually try to be _pleasant_ around your enemies?" I shrug. "What've you got to lose, right?"

**…**

"Captain, for the final time, I am neither inured nor do I need to 'talk about my feelings'. I would appreciate it if I could walk in peace. The doctor has already examined me and found that I am not in any way injured: there is no basis for your concern."

"Spock! You need to talk about it! You lost control and attacked a man. The fact that it was Khan makes it no better, Spock."

"Captain, I am fine—Vulcans do not lie." Spock says evenly.

"But you are upset, Spock-that never happens to you!"

"Multiple beings are upset during numerous times of the day; I believe that this would be what you would consider 'normal,' correct? And do not humans enjoy outward displays of emotion, Captain? Shouldn't my...'outburst' be somewhat of a relief to you to know that I do in fact _have_ emotions?" Spock asks curiously.

Kirk sighs and smiles at his friend. "Okay, fine. Whatever. Just don't do it again, okay?"

"Affirmative, Captain. Again, I apologize for my actions."

"Oh, no. It's not me you have to apologize to—it's Khan and Ze'eva."

Spock's eyebrow quirks upward. "Captain?" Ze'eva, he could understand but Khan? He expected him to apologize to _Khan_? How was that logical?

"You heard me. Come on." If Kirk didn't know any better, he'd say the Vulcan's shoulders were dropping slightly in defeat. McCoy sighed and shook his head at them.

"And so it begins." Bones says with a roll of his eyes before stomping after them.

**…**

"How are you feeling?" I ask, looking at Khan carefully. "Any injuries I should be aware of, Khan?"

"And why the sudden concern?" Khan asks looking bored.

"It's what I do, remember? Do you seriously have to question everything? Why so cynical?"

**...**

The door opens before he can responds and Spock walks in, no emotion showing on his face and Bones and Kirk follow in his wake, both of them smiling as if they'd snagged a cookie from the cookie jar and gotten away with it. Khan watches them suspiciously and his blue eyes watch them for any sign of hostility. But...they don't appear to be angry. In fact, they seem to be fighting the urge to laugh.

_Hm…this can't be good_. _What did they do?_

**...**

"Khan." Spock addresses tonelessly. "Ze'eva." We turn to him and wait. "I apologize for my actions earlier. They were uncalled for and…" He pauses and Kirk laughs a little before coughing to cover it up.

"Right, sorry." Kirk apologizes sheepishly when Spock glances at him and Bones rolls his eyes at him. "Carry on, then, Spock...just...ignore me."

"As I was saying, I am sorry. That is all." He walks away and Kirk finally dissolves into laughter and McCoy joins in with him. Khan smirks slightly and I shake my head at all three of them. Tears stream from their eyes and even Khan seems to be smirking.

"I'm surrounded by children." I mutter.

***Evil Laughter* Sorry, guys, I just couldn't resist the Spock Attack and figured the apology would be nice little twist. Haha, poor guy. :)**


	27. Chapter 27

**I haven't had a whole lot of funny chapters yet so…I man have decided to be just a wee bit goofy in this one. Hope you like pranks and violence. :D**

**Chapter 27**

I'm reading in the kitchen and Cassie takes one look at me and laughs. I raise an eyebrow and give her a funny look.

"What?"

"You're weird." She laughs again and I smirk ever so slightly.

_I'm the weird one? You created life through your cooking and forced me to eat it! That was torture!_

"You're just catching this now?" I tease. "You know, you must not be a very good doctor." I laugh and bolt away as she sends a pillow at my head. Khan walks into the room and examines us both coolly in turn before rolling his eyes walking back out. "See? Your horrible observation skills scared him away." I say before rushing out the door with Cassie charging after me.

I don't run as fast as I could which, consequently, gives Cassie all the opportunity to tackle me to the ground. We mock wrestle for a minute, Cassie gasping slightly. Shoving her lightly in the shoulder, I jump gracefully to my feet and turn to walk away. She grabs hold of my ankle and sends me sprawling hands and knees into the brittle navy blue grass.

"I win." She says, her shoulders resting proudly on her hips and I roll my eyes.

"Do you now?" And then we're back on the ground, throwing up clumps of dirt as the fight is rekindled. I will_ not_ lose!

"And what, may I ask, are you two doing?" Spock walks up and we break apart instantly. Cassie turns red under the Vulcan's emotionless stare and she's covered, head to toe, in white dirt, her hair sticking up wildly in every direction and I must not look much better.

"Combat practice." I say smoothly and the Vulcan raises an eyebrow at me. "We are going over various mistakes that new fighters make in close combat situations and Cassie seemed to be struggling in that area."

"And so you offered to teach her?" He inquires, his eyebrow rises still higher—if it goes any further up, it'll be completely vertical. _Cool._

"Affirmative, Mr. Spock." I raise myself clumsily to my feet and brush some of the white dirt off of my arms. "And she seems to have gained more understanding with the physical demonstration." He nods slowly as if he didn't quite believe me and walks away quickly.

"If that was an attempt to lie," Khan walks up. "I say it failed."

"Nah," I pick a few twigs out of my hair. "It worked perfectly. Now he won't suspect my malicious motives to take over the world. Isn't it wonderful?" I help Cassie up and she shoves me playfully into Khan. He shoves me away.

"And God help us all if you succeed." She says, jumping just out of reach before I can smack her.

"You two are strange." Khan remarks.

"Hm." I cock my head to the side.

"What?" Khan asks his expression now neutral and void of emotion.

"You're like Cassie." I say and he glares at me, "You'd make an awful doctor due to your poor observational skills, but's okay: your secret's safe with me, pops."

I run away from him and into the house, half expecting him to kill me. Quickly, I whip into the kitchen and crouch by the sink and very slowly start to rise up from the ground to peek out through the window before dropping down just as fast.

"What are you doing?" Bones questions me and I shrug.

"Pranking a serial killer—want to help? Nothing can possibly go wrong," I say innocently as I try to fight back a smile (I can't) and he rolls his eyes at me in silent exasperation. He looks up at the roof and mouths 'just kill me now. Please'. Before turning back to me. Apparently, he has the same exact level of hope in humanity as I do: none.

"Sure," He says sarcastically. Why not?" Another eye roll. I grin and press a can of shaving cream into his hands and his brown eyes narrow in confusion.

"When you see Khan come through the door, spray this at his face and then run." I say with a sly smile and he blinks in surprise as if I had just told him to do punch the president or something.

"Why?" He asks.

_Oh, doctor. Helpless, naive doctor. You have a lot to learn, young grasshopper, about the ancient art of the 20th century American ideology called the 'YOLO'._

"Why not?" I shoot back at him. He shakes his head at me in more silent exasperation and sighs. "And where should I stand?" He says sarcastically-I decide to take it literally.

"By the door—where else?" Isn't this obvious, dude? Come on, I think. Use your head. "And don't forget to run!" I whisper before rushing out the room.

"Don't worry!" He calls back, "I won't forget!"

_I'd hope not, not with an angry Augment trying to rip your head off._

"What are you doing, Mrs. Ze'eva?" Spock inquires with a slight nod to his head. He is sitting on the floor of the living room, lotus style, his eyes closed in concentration.

_How in the world did he know it was me?!_

"Something dangerous and completely reckless—want to help?"

"That does not sound logical." He answers.

"It involves getting revenge on Khan." I bait him and he opens his eyes to look at me.

"And what do you want me to do?" He asks. _Yes! I knew it would work!_

"Hold this." I press an air horn into his open palm, "And blow in Khan's face."

"And why would I do that?" Spock inquires emotionlessly.

"Because it would be _funny_, but after you blow it, you need to make sure to _run_…because he will try to kill you…just a tad."

"Is there a purpose to this outside of revenge?" Spock asks and I shake my head.

"It'd be humorous. Good luck." I turn to leave.

"And where are you going?" Spock asks and I smile evilly.

"Perhaps it'd be best if you didn't know."

**…**

Only five minutes have passed. He had expected Ze'eva to come back outside with a light smile and some kind of lame joke about something obscure or mundane…but she never comes back out. Yawning, he walks towards the house and opens the door.

That's when it happens.

Something white and thick rushes towards his face and he jerks back. Roaring, his eyes lock onto the doctor from the _Enterprise_. The man gulps and runs wildly from the room. Khan gives chase. He races after the terrified man like an enraged tiger. He runs into the living room and a loud noise assaults him to his left. He turns and sees the back of Spock's head as the Vulcan rushes out the door and outside. And enraged fire kindles in Khan's chest. With another heart-stopping roar he races after his foe.

Sunlight blinds him for a moment and something hard plows into his stomach and flies into his eyes. The air abandons his lungs and he wheezes on the ground.

"You should have seen your face!" Someone—Ze'eva—laughs and he cracks his eyes open to see the front of his shirt covered in white. He swipes a finger across his shirt and sniffed the powder experimentally: flour. Icy blue eyes narrow in barely concealed rage and Ze'eva doubles on the the ground, tears streaming from her eyes.

**…**

"What. Are. You. Doing?" Kirk asks. He sees Bones and Spock watching passively as Khan holds Ze'eva upside down by one leg and shakes her.

"We're just hanging out…" Ze'eva says, her face going red from the blood rushing to her head.

"And practicing close combat techniques." Khan adds with a smirk before dropping the woman unceremoniously on the ground and walking off, making sure to kick dirt into her face as he disappears inside. Spock raises an eyebrow at him in remembrance of Ze'eva's statement earlier about teaching Cassie how to fight and the corner of his mouth twitches upwards slightly into a small, secretive smile. Ze'eva simple laughs.

"Do I want to know?" Kirk asks and she laughs harder, shaking her head.

"No." She says breathlessly, "Probably not."


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

Darkness swallows up the world outside and our big light pole cuts through the blackness like a light, keeping the Cataclysms at bay. Spock and Khan are sitting at the table, engaged in a lively game of chess while Bones murmurs under his breath about being a doctor, not a babysitter as Truk and I prepare to leave. I smile at the cantankerous medic but he rolls his eyes and crosses his eyes over his chest.

"It's like you're putting a squirrel in charge of a rabid wolf!" Bones complains and I shrug.

"He hasn't killed anyone yet, and your crew is here with you." I say.

"Key word being 'yet'." Another eye roll. "Just be back soon." Kirk looks at me and we exchange a look.

"Good luck, we'll take him up there for you guys later." The blond captain says as he puts a hand on my shoulder and I fight the urge to shrug it off.

"Alright. Thanks." I say to him and then turn to the kids. "Ready?"

"Hang on!" Elsa says and she runs into the kitchen and gives Khan and then Spock a quick hug before racing towards me. Khan tenses in surprise and the unexpected physical contact and Spock merely lifts at eyebrow at the girl as she bolts over to me. "Goodbye!" Her squeaky voice shouts. "Be good, Uncle Khan! Don't talk to strangers! Mommy says they're bad! Bye Uncle Spock! Bye Uncle Khan!"

Kirk laughs at the Augment's shocked expression and quickly coughs to hide it as Khan turns to glare at him coldly. He may have just been hugged by a small child but that does not mean he not do anything in his power to kill any who dare to laugh at him.

"He's not your uncle!" I say but Truk is already walking her out the door. Shaking my head I follow, but I can't help but hear McCoy's amused chuckle as I leave.

Jerk.

**…**

Kirk, Scotty, and Bones decide to drive Khan there several hours later, around midnight. The Augment sits stiffly in the backseat beside Scotty and their drive, surprisingly, is dead silent.

"Room 618?" Kirk asks the attendant and she points to the elevator.

"Floor six." She says quietly before returning to her work.

They ride up the elevator and Scotty looks at Khan uneasily.

"So…about me shooting you on the USS Vengeance…" The Scotsman says quietly. "You aren't still a wee bit mad abou' tha' are you?"

Khan smirks coldly at Scotty for a moment before continuing to stare at the metal doors in front of him, not once addressing the man.

"So…uh…we're good, then?" Scotty tries again as the doors open and Khan strides out and quickly locates room 618 and walks in. The Star Fleet officers stand awkwardly outside for a moment before wandering away.

Khan was no threat to the family; it'd be okay to leave them in peace for a while.

Ze'eva is asleep on the couch. Aaron sleeps curled into her side and Elsa lies lightly on tops of her chest. Truk is snoring quietly from the armchair, the other twin lying against his chest, her thumb tucked into her mouth. In the hospital bed lies who Khan assumes to Roni, Ze'eva's youngest sister.

Khan moves to get a closer look. She's looks like a miniature Ze'eva. Her hair is long and dark and she has most of the same facial features…but she's so pale. Tubes in her nose forces her lungs to drawl in air and her heart poundes sluggishly in her chest: she did not look good at all. Ze'eva has been right: she did look like she was dead.

_'__I can save her',_ he had said. _'It was my fault she was hurt'._

And it was.

It really was.

Quickly he picks up a syringe and carefully inserts the needle into a vein, drawling his scarlet blood into the clear chamber before discharging it into the young girl's IV line. He repeats the process—two, three, four times— before pausing to look at the monitors beside her bed. Her heartbeat quickens and color returns to her cheeks. Her eyelids flutter slightly and Khan smiles. He looks at Roni. Her eyes were still fluttering but she seemed to be waking. This was definite improvement. He may not be able to erase his sins…but at least he could try to make up for them.

Ze'eva had given him a chance to live: now, they were even.

Blue eyes flicker over to Ze'eva's sleeping form and he watches her for a minute. She's shivering with cold as are the little ones. Without a second's hesitation Khan sheds his long grey coat and places it on top of the slumbering trio and then puts a thin blanket from the closet on top of Truk and his daughter before striding purposely out the door.

He was monster, huh? _Let's see what they say about him after this._

Never faltering in his steps, he walks straight into the wing where all the terminal and critical patients are kept. For hours he drags his blood out and places the healing liquid expertly into their IV lines. His pale blue eyes access every face as he injects the scarlet placebo into the sick.

_What would their family think when they return the next morning to see them completely cured?_

Khan could imagine the joy sweeping through the wing like a wild fire as the medics scratched their heads in confusion. When he finishes he walks purposely back to room 618 and sits ram-rod straight in a hard wooden chair and waits for daylight to come.

Khan turns and watches Ze'eva. Her eyebrows are furrowed in sleep. By looking at her jugular, he can tell that her heart rate has accelerated greatly. She jerks in her sleep and every muscle tenses. He can smell the sharp pungent bite of fear as it permeates the air and he knows that she's being plagued by a particularly nasty nightmare.

Another jerk, a slight whimper, hot tears slipping down her face. Her breathing quickens and shallows into rapid gulps. For a moment, he considers grabbing her shoulder and waking her up but then thinks better of it. She'd only panic more and probably wind up hurting her little ones.

_No._

_It was better to let her sleep._

Guilt trickles down his spine as he considers the possibility that maybe she was dreaming about San Francisco and her sister being seriously injured in the crash. The fires that raged through the city killing still more that had miraculously survived him colliding violently into their city.

The desecration.

The injured packed into understaffed hospitals being manned by sleep deprived and exhausted employees while Khan was thrown into a cell and beaten relentlessly for days and starved to the point that he could barely stand on his own.

Ze'eva must have sat in the waiting room for hours, anxiously pacing the cramped room over and over again. Her fingers restlessly thrumming against her thigh, her eyes scared and worried all the while she would have been crooning that everything was going to be okay to her scared and already broken family.

He had done that. Some superior being he had been, throwing a tantrum. Ze'eva was right. Violence wasn't always the answer. If anything...it did slow down progress, or, at least it did in this situation...

She would have fought heroically to save lives that day, putting others' needs ahead of her own. She had flown multiple times in the past, long before San Francisco, into raging storms, war torn battle fields, and huge fires, not once considering her own safety as she raced against death to save what lives she could. It was the least the world could do to spare her sibling.

And if could he help, well, he wasn't going to complain.

**…**

Khan wakes suddenly, every particle of him cold and stiff. He blinks in the painful fluorescent lighting and sniffs the air carefully while his eyes flick over the room. Truk and the kids are gone.

And… Ze'eva is yelling at some random man.

He's about fix foot tall, portly, with gray thinning hair, and a large white mustache. He had on a long white doctor's coat. Her voice is low and deadly, her body language tense as though she can barely stop herself from attacking the man in front of her. But he looks unperturbed.

_Weird: Ze'eva Harrison—a strong advocate for nonviolence—about to maul a random doctor? This should be promising. And to think he didn't bring popcorn..._

"Get. Out." She growls and the man smiles coldly.

Khan feels a flash recognition jolt down his spine. He had never met the man, but he knew a scientist when he saw them. Anger boils in his belly and he finds himself rising to his feet and stand behind Ze'eva. The man looks up but he doesn't flinch away or run like a normal person would do.

Instead, he smiles wider.

Ze'eva moves forward suddenly and shoves him away. The man stumbles backward, surprised by her unsuspected outburst and his face turns to stone. For a moment, Khan thinks he's going to lunge forward and hit the woman, and Khan takes a step forward to intercept the blow and break the man's wrist if necessary.

"You dare?" The man growls and she narrows her eyes, her hands curling and uncurling into fists.

"Touch her again and you'll be dead." She spits at him.

Khan's hand moves out and firmly takes hold of her wrist. He can feel the anger pounding through her veins and burrowing firmly into her muscles. Cautiously, he tightens his hold, careful not to hurt her. The man looks them both up and down, smirks, and walks out of the room. Khan's grip on her wrist loosens for a moment as he watches her to see whether or not she'll go attack him.

She doesn't.

She doesn't even move.

Every muscle tense, every sense straining to find him. She wants him dead, but why? Who was he to her? To Khan, a scientist was a tormentor…but this man was a doctor: wouldn't she _want_ him to look over her sister?

"Who was that man?" Khan asks and he walks in front of her to force her to pay attention to him. She blinks as if just realizing that he's there in the room with her and he repeats the question.

"A very dangerous person." She says carefully.

"More dangerous than me?" He says sarcastically…her answer shocks him.

"Yes." She says slowly. "Far more dangerous."


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

"Get down!" I tackle Cassie to the ground as an explosion sounds outside. Glass shatters and rains down onto the floors. Quickly, I drag her back to her feet and pull her from the room.

"What's going on?!"

"What makes you think I know?"

Khan, the children, and I had left the hospital hours ago, leaving Truk in charge of Roni and keeping the man away from her.

"Where are the kids?" I ask quickly as I run from room to room. I find the girls hiding behind the couch and Aaron sobbing underneath my bed. "It's okay," I coo to him as I pull him into my arms and he sobs into my shirt. "It's okay. Don't worry. Everything will be alright."

"What do we do?" Cassie asks.

"We hide the kids and then ourselves."

"Where's Khan?" Cassie yells.

"What makes you think I know?"

I run into the office and I quickly push the kids into a small room hidden behind a portion of the wall.

"How can you not know?" The grass outside is on fire and smoke is rushing in through the broken windows. We cough and run to the kitchen. There isn't enough space in the secret room for all of us. "Ze'eva? How can you not know! You're supposed to be watching him!"

"Just run, Cassie! I'm sure he's fine!"

He has been under fire on the battle field before after all.

"Ze'eva!"

An explosion slams me into a wall and the air leaves my body. Ash coats the ground. A menacing yellow gas fills the room and makes my lungs burn. I try to stand up to get away from it but find myself falling back to the ground, my skull cracking hard against the wooden floors. I cough as the smoke curls angrily inside my lungs. My ears are ringing: my head spinning.

"Ze'eva! Get up!"

White spots are starting to cloud my vision and a warm, red liquid is flowing from my arm. Blood? I tilt my head to better examine the wound and the world spins wildly. My stomach pitches violently and I try to force myself to stand again…but my legs and arms may as well be made as jelly.

BOOM!

Another explosion. The fire is getting closer. The door is kicked in violently and Cassie screams in fear. Her hand curls around my arm but my body seems to be made of dense lead. It's too heavy…and I'm so tired. My head sinks to the floor and my eyes keep flickering shut of their own accord; I can't keep them open.

"You've got to help, her! Please! Do something!" Cassie screams. "Something is wrong is with her; she won't get up!"

I try to open my eyes or move, but I can't. Footsteps approach and I try again to open my eyes to track their movement but my body seems to be rebelling against me.

Someone's fingers press against my neck and I tense: their hands are cold.

"She still has a pulse." A deep baritone voice says calmly.

"But for how much longer? She's hurt, Khan!"

"I know." Someone picks me up and I feel my head loll against someone's chest, their heart booming steadily into my ear. "You get the children, I'll get the car."

I can hear Cassie run away and vaguely wonder where it was that Khan just came from before unconsciousness drags me away.

**…**

"She'll be fine. The gas has left her system and she should be awake in a few hours."

"Are you sure Bones?"

"I'm sure."

"But why was she the only one affected by it?"

"I don't know. Maybe she inhaled more of it than the others did or they had a natural immunity against it that she did not…I'm running tests now, Kirk. We should know soon enough."

"And why do you think Khan helped Ze'eva? He has proven himself to be nothing short of a killer. He opened fire on an unarmed room full of Star Fleet officers and destroyed much of San Francisco…why would he even bother to save Ze'eva when the chance to escape had presented itself? Would he choose to stay when the collar was damaged and fell off in the firefight? There would have been no more electrical shocks to force him to obey any orders and no GPS device to transmit his location to us: he could have escaped with little possibility of us locating him."

"I don't know, Spock! I'm a doctor not a tactician!"

**…**

"Are you alright?" Khan looks at Cassie carefully. She's shaking violently and her already pale skin has gotten even paler (if that were possible). The children crowd around Cassie and they look just as shell shocked as she does.

Cassie nods unconvincingly.

"Look at me," he commands. They all do. "She will be fine. Both her pulse and respiratory system seemed to be functioning normally on the way here. They are probably just running tests to make sure everything is operating correctly."

"How are you so sure? You are not a doctor!" She snaps and the children flinch at her harsh tone.

"No." He agrees slowly, making sure to keep his voice low and even. "But I have been through enough battles to know when someone is gravely injured and when someone is not." Cassie looks down at her feet in shame. She was a doctor: she should have noticed that she was breathing normally and had a steady pulse-not him. "Your friend will be fine." Khan continues.

They sit in silence for a few minutes. Khan had already had a new collar installed around his neck and he resists the urge to tug at it. The cold metal bites against his skin and it's slightly heavier than the original. That cursed Vulcan, Spock, had seen to it _personally_ that he had been given a much more durable device. He would not have second chance at freedom.

"Whatever happened to that girl?" Khan inquires with a tilt of his head. "Arielle?"

"I took her in to live with me for a bit. Ze'eva's been talking me into adopting her…she's doing well and settling in pretty good."

"Good." He nods at her although he himself didn't care personally about the girl's health.

Right now, it was just important to keep the woman talking…she seemed to be slipping into shock. Elsa very slowly wriggles away from Cassie and slides down to the floor. Shakily, she stands up and makes her way over to Khan, pulls herself up onto the seat beside him, and buries herself into his side. Carefully, he pulls her into his lap and wraps an arm around her. She snuggles closer.

Bones walks into the room and raises an eyebrow at Khan and Elsa but wisely chooses not to comment. Khan's icy gaze burns a hole through the doctor's chest and he clears his throat uncomfortably.

"Well, doctor? Are you going to say something or stand there all day?" Khan asks.

"She's doing fine." Bones clears his throat again, "We're running a few tests but, so far so good."

"What was the gas? Why was she the only one affected by it?" Khan leans forward, careful not to crush the small girl as he shifts.

"That's what we're trying to find out. She should be awake soon. I'll have a nurse escort you guys to her room when she awakes."

"And how did _you _become her doctor?" Khan asks.

"This is a Star Fleet hospital: in case you haven't noticed," Bones tugs at his shirts and nods to the emblem on his chest, "I'm in Star Fleet. It wasn't that difficult to arrange. Now, if you will excuse me, the results should be coming in soon."

"Wait." Khan orders and the doctor turns to look at him, annoyance etching into his stiff posture.

"I believe this woman is going into shock." He nods at Cassie and Bones moves to look her over before nodding.

"Good eye, Khan. Nurse! Get me a blanket, stat!"

**…**

I sit up.

The harsh white light burns my eyes. The room smells strongly of antiseptic. Inwardly I shudder. _I'm in a hospital, aren't I?_ It doesn't take long for me to take the IV out of my arm. Wincing, I swing my bare feet onto the freezing cold floors and stand easily. Goosebumps cover my skin and I shiver in cold.

_Why is it always so cold in hospitals?!_

_And what is the point of these stupid tie-in-the-back gowns?!_

**…**

Khan sits stiffly in his chair. Cassie is sleeping. Elsa has fallen asleep and Aaron watches Khan tiredly, his brown eyes looking calmly into Khan's blue ones.

"I'm hungry." He whines.

"Wait for your father to get here." Khan replies smoothly. Bones had informed Truk of Ze'eva's condition minutes ago—he should be here any second now. "He can feed you."

"But I'm hungry!" He whines louder and Khan rolls his eyes.

"Fine. Does anyone else have to eat?" All of the children nod rapidly and Khan groans inwardly before 'borrowing' Cassie's wallet. She loved to help people out...she shouldn't mind to much. After all, she is feeding the hungry. "Stay close and be quiet." He growls.

The last thing he needs is to be charged with kidnapping.

**…**

_Where is everyone?_

I shudder and pull my jacket more securely around me.

The waiting room is empty. The hallways are deserted.

_Weird..._

"Hello?" I try. My voice echoes slightly down the hallways but no one responds. "Hello!" I say, louder this time. The lights flicker off and I push myself against the wall instinctively. Half of my expects a Cataclysm to jump out and rip me to shreds.

Hospitals may be creepy but they are _never_ empty.

The lights jumps back on, knifes of searing white light blinding me for a moment.

A calm voice with an undercurrent of crueltly responds quietly: "Hello."

I whip around to see the man from yesterday.

And he has a knife.

I swallow, "Where is everyone?"

"Gone." He says calmly, taking a step closer to me and I back away.

"Why did you attack my house?"

He smiles.

"Well?" I demand. "Why? Why did you do it?" I hate the fear that lingers on my words or how high the tone of my voice is. I hate how cold it is in her and how my knees keep banging together and shivers jump down my spine. I hate how exposed I feel in this thin gown and how his grey, dead eyes seem to laugh at my hopelessness.

If I had a knife right now, he'd be dead.

Suddenly, he lunges forward with blinding speed and pins me to the wall. The knife flashes towards me and I catch his wrist, the blade touching the side of my throat. I try to push him away but I can't.

"Nothing escapes our grasp. Eventually, everything comes back. What is born in darkness will return to darkness. What is evil cannot live in the light." He smiles, the blade cutting into my skin, a small trickle of blood running down my neck. "You can't get away. We'll have you with us again soon enough."

The lights flicker off and when they come back on, he's gone.

Cassie runs into the rooms and yells excitedly to see me. Her arms envelope me but I can't look at her. My eyes scan the room looking for any sign that he was just here. My hand flies to my neck—nothing.

The blood is gone.

Am I going crazy?


	30. Chapter 30

**Sorry guys, there's a lots of creepy ahead.**

**Chapter 30**

"What's happening? Where is everyone?"

"I'm so glad you're okay! Look at me, how are you feeling? Are you feeling woozy? Any nausea or lightheadedness?"

"No…I'm fine…where are my kids?"

"Oh…uh…I don't know."

"Cassie, you lost my children?! We need to find them! Now!"

**…**

"What do you want to eat? Hamburger or chicken?" Khan asks, looking at the menu and the kids shrug. "Pick one. Now."

"Chicken!" Aaron yells and Khan nods.

"Follow me and stay close." He orders as he glides into the line with the stolen wallet in his hand.

The hospital cafeteria was completely empty but it didn't take long for him to scrounge up some chicken fingers from the refrigerator and heat them up. "

"Eat quickly. We need to get back to the waiting room soon."

"And then we'll see mommy?" Elsa asks Khan innocently, her blue eyes shining with hope. "And she can come home?"

"Maybe." Khan replies curtly.

They may keep her overnight for observation but he was sure nothing was seriously wrong with her. The kids eat slowly and Khan snags a piece of chicken off of Elsa's plate when she's not eating. Aaron catches Khan and grins at the older man as he puts a finger to his lips.

Despite his playful exterior, he is panicking slightly on the inside. The lack of people is beginning to worry him. He keeps expecting someone dangerous to jump out and attack them.

Subconsciously, his hands curl around the table's cool metal edge and begin to bend it ever so slightly. If they were attacked, they would be sitting ducks. The children can't fend for themselves and Khan couldn't protect them without being electrocuted.

The faster they get out of this Godforsaken place, the better.

"Hurry up." Khan orders. "Eat quickly."

**…**

We're running through the hospital in a wild frenzy, all logic abandoned. All I know is that my kids are missing, and there was a lunatic with a knife running around, and I need to find them. Now!

Where are they? My mind screams this sentence over and over again on an unending loop…but the answer never presents itself.

No matter how many times I ask the question, they are still gone.

Missing.

I'm running through the halls and racing into each and every room.

But they aren't here. WHERE ARE THEY?!

"Ze'eva! You are hurt and you need to calm down! Ze'eva!"

"You lost my kids! How _exactly_ am I supposed to 'calm down,' Cassie?"

"Look, everything is going to be okay. They're probably with Khan—"

"No! You look! They. Are. Missing! What about that do you not understand, Cassie? What is so difficult about this concept? They could have been kidnapped for all we know!"

"Do you really believe someone would have been able to kidnap, Khan?" Cassie asks quietly. "Do you really think that that is even _possible?_ Your kids are _fine_. They're probably in the bathroom or whatever."

"I've already checked the bathrooms—they're _empty."_

"You know what I mean."

I inhale deeply and sigh, forcing my pulse to slow a little. "Yeah. I guess, so."

She was right in a way. They couldn't have been kidnapped: Khan would not have allowed it nor would he allow himself to be taken captive…but that didn't necessarily mean that they were safe.

"They're fine, okay? We'll find them?"

_Maybe,_ I think. _Maybe we will find them…but if _we _go missing, who is going to find _us?_ If that guy comes back…what will we do _then? _That guy is evil reincarnate…and something tells me he's still here, somewhere. Lurking just out of sight and ready to rip us apart the moment our backs are turned…_

**…**

"What's it like in 'London'?" Aaron asks. "Do the people fly like Superman? Are there superheroes there?"

Khan chuckles lightly at the boy's question, "No. I am afraid that there are no 'superheroes'. And no, the people can't fly, either."

"So, what's it like, then?" Elsa asks, her eyes wide with wonder.

"It's large and crowded. There are parks and the grass is green instead of blue. And we only have one moon, not two."

"Wow. That's so cool!"

"_Green_ grass." The green eyed twin whispers and Elsa nods.

"That's so weird!" Aaron exclaims.

Khan smirks a little and shakes his head.

What would his crew think now to see him entertaining a bunch of human children: inferior beings? Would they be able to see past these children's many weaknesses to examine their hearts…or would these kids just be seen as something that is abominable?

He frowns.

How could anyone ever think that about a child?

But he himself had once…hadn't he?

**…**

"Where are all the doctors? The nurses? Where are the patients for crying out loud! Why is everyone missing? Did something happen, Cassie—some kind of emergency or whatever? Where did everyone all go?"

"I don't know, Ze'eva! I just woke up! I went to use the restroom after I woke up and I noticed everyone was gone. I started looking around to find someone and I found you." She sounds irritated.

"This is crazy! Nothing like this has _ever_ happened!"

**…**

"Are there Cataclysms in London?"

"No. There are no Cataclysms."

"For real? None at all?" Aaron asks, his brown eyes wide.

"None." Khan says with a nod.

The lights flicker off and Khan tenses. It's dark outside. He may not know a lot about this planet but he knows by now that the Cataclysms take whatever opportunity they can to reduce a region to ruins. A single second of darkness can result in complete devastation.

The children whimper and one of the girl's starts to cry. Small arms wrap around Khan's own and he has to force himself to be still and to not fling the child across the room, shattering their bones as they're hurled into a wall.

_Calm down,_ he reprimands himself. _Get ahold of yourself!_ _It's only an electrical shortage. You've seen worse._

The lights cut back on, much brighter than before and it burns their eyes. Khan narrows his eyes and looks around, his blood freezing slightly when he catches sight of who is in the doorway.

"Hello." The man from yesterday walks into the room, a knife held lightly in his thin, pale, spidery fingers. "Hello." He repeats, his monotonous voice echoing through the empty room.

"Who are you?" Khan stands quickly to put himself between the doctor and the children.

The man smiles evilly, his white teeth gleaming unnaturally in the bright lighting. "You don't know me yet. But you will. Soon."

**…**

I freeze.

Barely audible whispers echo down the hallways.

_What is that? Are we not alone after all? Is someone else here…?_

"Ze'eva…" Cassie whimpers but I ignore her and move farther down the hallway, towards the noises. "Ze'eva, maybe we should leave. Come on, Ze'eva. Let's get out of here…"

It doesn't sound human exactly…it sounds more…mechanical.

Lifeless.

Threatening.

"Hang on. I can hear something." I say, waving Cassie away but she refuses to leave me. _Does she stay because of loyalty…or fear,_ I wonder dully before pushing the thought away. _What does it matter?_

A shiver jolts up my spine but I continue to move forward: I need to know what it is. The voices are jumbled together and indistinct… with a slightly familiar ring to it. But it feels wrong.

Dangerous.

"Ze'eva…"

I keep inching forward, every muscle alert. My heart hammers in my chest. Cassie is walking behind me and I can smell the sharp odor fear coming off of her.

"We need to leave." I freeze suddenly and look at Cassie. These are _not _good voices. If we don't run now, we will die.

"Now, Cassie! Come on!" I whisper loudly, grabbing her arm and running away from the voices and down the hallways.

The voices get louder, closer. It crescendos into a piercing banshee howl and Cassie screams as I push her forward roughly. Something grabs my arm and slams me into a wall and I lash out, punching and kicking wildly.

"Ze'eva!" Cassie screams. "Ze'eva!"

"RUN, CASSIE! RUN!" I yell, my lungs forcing the squeal out past my lips as I struggle in vain against the iron grasp. "RUN, CASSIE! GET HELP! HURRY!"

But I know she probably won't get back in time, but it would only be logical for one person to die instead of two.

And my father always did value logic…

**…**

The lights cut out and back on and then the man is gone.

A woman howls shrilly and Khan can hear her footprints pounding wildly through the hallways, the sharp pungent bite of fear racing ahead of her. The door slams open and Khan roars in warning. The woman lurches backwards into the wall, hyperventilating, her eyes wide with shock, her mouth opened in a silent scream.

"Cassie?" Khan tilts his head to the side. "What is wrong? Why are you afraid?"

"It's…Ze'eva! They were…they were everywhere!" She says between gasps and Khan bolts past her.

He doesn't need to look back to know that the children are all crowding around Cassie like moths to a light source. He can hear the voices reverberating down the hallway and Ze'eva yelling angrily but he can't see her.

The lights flicker off and he can hear the children and Cassie howl with fright. Khan tenses in anticipation but no enemies present themselves. Emergency lights come on, bathing the world in green. Ze'eva's screams suddenly stop. He inches forward, his blue eyes glaring into the darkness.

"Ze'eva?" He calls softly. Nothing.

"Ze'eva?" He tries again but again he is met with ominous silence.

Something flies past his ear and he jerks back to see a large owl like creature whisk past him, its black feathers tickling his ear, and in its talons it holds Ze'eva's leg.

She roars and thrashes, hot blood staining the floor red. Despite her vicious kicks, the airborne beast refuses to let her go.

"Hold on!" Khan yells and he races towards her, his pace quickening until he is right next to the hellish owl.

Rage fills every cell of his being as he launches himself at its head. Its sharp beak stabs into his sides but nothing it can do can save it as he wrenches its head violently to the side, snapping its neck.

And then he's on the ground. His vision going white and an agonized howl ripping out of his lungs and his collar punishes him for attacking the monster. Ze'eva sits up and forces herself onto her hands and knees.

"Stop! Deactivation code A-4787!" She yells and the pain melts away.

He blinks wearily up at the ceiling as Ze'eva forces herself to stand and hop over to his side, her injured leg not once touching the ground. Slowly, she sits down beside him and looks him over.

"Well." She says tiredly. "This day could've gone better, huh?"

He blinks again but doesn't say anything as his subconscious takes control.


	31. Chapter 31

**It's a little short but I figured the stopping point was perfect.**

**Chapter 31**

"Hello." I look up to see one of the Enterprise's crew members staring at me expectantly. He's a boy about seventeen years old, curly brown hair, and a thick Russian accent.

"There something I can help you with?" I ask, putting two fingers to Khan's jugular.

His pulse is still normal. We had dragged him, Cassie, Truk, the kids, and Roni home last night and I may have over dosed Khan with the not-so-mild sedative I gave him…oops.

"My name is Ensign Pavel Chekov…um…thank you for allowing us to stay…bye." He walks away quickly and I stare after him.

"Bye…?"

"Have you checked your mail, yet?" Spock inquires and I give him a funny look. Why would he care? "Would it be acceptable if I were to accompany you to your mailbox? I need to converse with you."

"Yeah…sure."

I walk out the door with Spock beside me. "I have a message for you." He presses a letter into my hand and I look it over carefully. The paper envelope is expensive and thick, a small red seal keeping it firmly closed. Neat handwriting addresses it to me…it was written by a politican by some kind.

"Who is this from, Spock?"

"You already know who it is from; why bother asking a question to which you already know the answer?"

I sigh. "So, it's from _him_, then?"

"He does send his apologies and grudges are illogical things to have."

"You have a grudge against Khan." I point out. "That was why it was so easy for him to emotionally compromise you into attacking him. If you, a being devoted to logic, can act illogically by harboring a grudge against someone, why can't I?"

Spock sighs quietly. "He is sorry."

"You are implying that he is capable of emotion and I do not believe that he is, _Mr. Spock_. If not for him, Roni would never have been in San Francisco in the first place."

"Khan was the one who crashed the USS Vengeance into San Francisco, not—"

"Does it matter right now? He kidnapped my sister—not Khan. It is his fault that she got hurt and I'll hold my grudge as well as I please. If you can hate people then I can, too."

Instead of speaking, he stares at me coolly and I shrug his look off. He had no right to tell me how to run my life when he himself was making the same mistake that I was.

"You have every right to be angry." He says softly. "He took your family away and subsequently put them in danger…but he is sorry. Khan, however, is not."

"How do you?" I say quickly. "Did you ask Khan if he was sorry or did you simply assume that he was not? People change, Spock. Maybe not immediately, but they can. My job is to make him better."

"And do you believe this is possible? The possibility of him actually recovering enough to join society is…" I shoot him an irritated look. "It is…low. Khan is a dangerous man. It will be next to impossible to help him, much less 'change' him."

"I know, but I've signed up for it non-the-less and it's too late to back out now. Even you can admit that I've made progress with him, Spock." I say and he nods.

"You have made progress but who is to say that he is not manipulating you?" He puts a hand tentatively on my shoulder and I turn to face him. "It is most likely a rouse. The moment he finds out that his crew is alive, all your 'progress' will mean nothing. He will go back to being what he was before: a mass murderer. Nothing you can say or do will change that."

"Then I sincerely hope that you are wrong."

**…**

"So? What've you got?" Cassie asks as I walk back in.

Spock lingers on the porch.

I start tossing mail onto the floor: "Junk, junk, bill, bill, and more bills…a letter…from New Vulcan? Interesting." I put the letter on the table and throw everything else onto the floor.

"You do know, of course, that just because you haven't opened your bills, they don't just disappear, right?"

"You can prove nothing."

"Oh." Cassie presses a letter into my hands. "This was sent to my house for some reason…but it has your name on it."

It's a simple nondescript letter with neat, blocked handwriting.

I nod telling her thanks and open it carefully:

_I tried to warn you that_

_In my heart had laid the desire _

_To set your world on fire._

_So, try to run_

_And try to flee_

_But you will never escape me._

_So go ahead, try to run_

_But I will still have my fun._

_You can scream and you can cry_

_But you will still, inevitably die._

_I told you I'd get you, but you didn't believe_

_Soon I'll get to watch you bleed._

The paper falls from my hands and I look at Cassie, wide-eyed.

No.

This cannot be happening.


	32. Chapter 32

**Since the last chapter was shorter, I decided to make this one a long one (or well, long for me, anyway).**

**Chapter 32**

_It's raining._

_Lightning lights up the night sky and roaring thunder rips through the building, making the walls tremble. I shiver into the damp and cold cement wall. _

_"__You'll never get out." They say._

_Oh, course, they release us for short periods of time to our familiar before dragging up back into this hellish place. For some, they let you live your life for years before uprooting you and snatching you away for experiments. They'll take you into the Screaming Room._

_And you never return._

_Then, your family forgets about you and live moves on._

_As if you never existed._

_They steal your blood until you can't stand or see straight, and break you bones to harvest the marrow; they slice you open to snatch up pieces of your organs before inevitably taking your life. No one makes it past the age of fourteen._

_And you never escape._

_They always find you._

_Always._

_Tonight, it's quiet like death. I've always been rebellious and it's gotten me into a lot of trouble. Tonight is no exception…because tonight…tonight I kill my best friend._

_I move quickly and shoot up through the air vent. My bare feet land on the floor outside my cell and I pause for a moment to savor the temporary freedom and try to calm my jittering nerves._

_"__Come on, Wolf! Get me out!" She whispers frantically. I race to her cell and quickly pick the lock, allowing her to step out into the darkness. "Let's go." She commands firmly but my ears can still detect the undercurrent fear that lingers in her voice. She's fourteen. If she doesn't get out, she'll be slaughtered for sure._

_And then forgotten._

_We run outside into the bullet-like rain and wince as small shards of hail start to rain down and attack us. Nothing feels right about this and it's definitely a trap…but what else can we do? The wind and screams, its intangible tendrils clawing at us in an effort to push us back to where we belong: a cage._

_"__This way!" She yells. _

_We slip under the electric fence and race into the canyons, the red clay getting more and more slick as the storm grows progressively stronger. And they catch up just as we corner ourselves: the mice running straight towards their own poison. _

_"__Run!" She pushes me towards a narrow gap in the wall and I stare at her uncomprehendingly. Another shove and I'm scrambling through as the phases light up the nights. She screams again for me to run and I don't even look back. That night, I staggered home and the next day mom and I went into town for medical supplies._

_They had poisoned our water in retaliation; we got sick but didn't perish. Again and again they dragged me back for test and observations and they were much more savage than they had been before the escape…but I never stopped running. I did everything I could to escape._

_But I never saw her again._

**…**

Khan hears Ze'eva yelling at someone and squints his eyes at his bright room. The light ours in nonchalantly and he notices that someone opened his curtains. How did they get in without him hearing?

"Get. Out." He hears her growls and the hairs on the back of his neck rise up instinctively. Something is wrong.

"I need to speak to you about urgent matters, Ze'eva. Your childish games will end lives."

"I'm not having you around my children. Now you can either leave or be removed: pick one."

Khan moves stealthily to stand in the doorway and sees an elderly Vulcan standing in front of Ze'eva, his hands folded nonthreateningly behind his back. He clearly wasn't armed or a threat…what was the problem here? Khan zeroes in on Spock who stands passively on the sidelines, his hands also behind his back.

"Who is that man?" Khan asks walking up to the Vulcan and glaring down at him.

"My father." Spock says briskly.

"Your father?" Khan thinks for a minute. _How does she know _Spock's father_…and why does she _not_ like him? Vulcans may seem to be void of emotion, but they certainly _aren't_ dangerous_. Khan looks at Spock…_well, unless provoked._ "Why is he here?"

"To talk to Ze'eva. Surely, with you enhanced intelligent, that fact was obvious?"

"I am not amused." Khan growls.

"How fortunate it is, then, that my goal was not to entertain you, Mr. Singh. And how, may I ask, are you feeling? You were in put into a medically induced coma for three days to give your wounds a chance to heal. Any discomfort?" Spock raises an inquisitive eyebrow at him but, despite the lack of having a hard tone, he knows that he is being sarcastic.

Khan glares at the Vulcan, seething inwardly.

He hates this man: regardless of whether or not his hatred is justified. Spock single handedly killed his crew. Khan will not let a deed such as that go unpunished. But for now, he will go along with the Vulcan's game of idle chatter. One day, the emotionless humanoid will lower his defenses…and that day will be his last.

"I am feeling fine." Khan says smoothly.

_But I would feel close to euphoric when I put my hands around your neck and squeezed the life-giving air from your deceitful lungs,_ he thinks.

The children run into the room and Elsa smiles and runs towards the strange man with opened arms as if to hug him.

"No! Kids, get out, now!" Ze'eva snaps.

The small child freezes in place before running to Khan and hiding behind him, wrapping her willowy arms around his leg and whimpering as she tries to turn invisible. He looks down at her and raises an eyebrow. He was a dictator who slaughtered millions without batting an eye: and now he is some girl's default protector? He took lives not saved them!

But he didn't shake her away.

Spock lifted an eyebrow at them but wisely chooses to remain silent.

**…**

"You have no right to be in my house—get out!" I snap, my rage boiling to an all-time high.

_How _dare_ he come here? The nerve of this guy! _

_How _dare_ he come into _my_ home—around _my _children?_

"I know that it is hard to believe, but I wish only to converse with you. I mean no harm to you or anyone else." His voice is calm but I don't trust it for a second.

I know this trick: I've seen it a million times.

"Have you at least read my letter?" He asks quietly and I cross my arms over my chest.

"I burned it." It's a lie.

We both know it.

We both refuse to acknowledge it.

"Please. Come with me to talk. If only for a minute. If it weren't urgent…" He pauses slightly. "I would not have come." He turns on his heel and walks away, leaving the decision up to me. I glare at his back, wishing that my eyes could burn a hole through him.

But they can't.

And they don't.

"Mommy?" I look over at Elsa, who is still wrapped tightly around Khan's leg. He raises and eyebrow at me and I shrug.

"Yes?" I ask.

"Is he a bad guy? Will he take us away?"

"No." I squat down and she runs into my arms and I hold her close. "He's not going to take you away—promise."

"Is he bad?"

"A little bit."

"Who is he?"

"You know what? Why don't you go get something to eat." I look over at Khan and Spock. "Spock would you mind getting her lunch. Khan, Cassie and Bones are here somewhere; I need for one of them to give you a quick examination to make sure everything is working okay. You lost a lot of blood and had a pretty nasty gash in your side."

They nod to me and I walk after Savek.

**…**

"So, what do you have to say?" I demand.

He's standing beside a small ship with a parcel held lightly in his fingers. His brown eyes look weary and sad. Strange.

Vulcans almost never show emotion.

Huh. Maybe it is urgent.

"We never meant to harm any of you." He says softly. "In fact, we were never supposed to have even met you. It was never intended that you would even exist in our personal worlds. Any pain we may have cause is entirely…unintentional, and I apologize. For both of us."

"And yet, Roni is still in the hospital isn't she?" I retort.

_He is _not_ getting off the hook that easily. He thinks he can just _'apologize'_ and everything will be A-Okay? Like_ nothing _ever happened?_

"I am sorry." The words seemed to have pained him as if an invisible knife is carving into his heart.

_Good._ He clears his throat and the mask is back on, fitted smoothly onto his face to hide the emotional storm wreaking havoc within.

"The Vulcan Science Academy would proud to have you or your siblings attend courses there as exchange courses and learn more about the Vulcan culture."

"Vulcans?" I snarl. "'Proud'? I didn't think you harbored such emotions."

"I was attempting to make use of the human vernacular…and this for you." He says softly and he pushes the box lightly into my hands. It isn't very big: maybe about a foot tall and three feet wide: barely thirty pounds. "She would be proud of you and of what you had managed to accomplish here." His weathered hand drops onto my shoulder for a second before he gives me the customary Vulcan salute saying, "Live long and prosper."

And I don't return it.

In fact, I don't even tell him goodbye as I turn on my heel and stomp back inside. I can hear him walking into his ship…and for a second, I look back at him. His shoulders are drooping, his head hanging low.

He looks defeated.

Broken.

_Good. He should have a taste of his own medicine._ But my heart still twinges with disappointment and sadness as I walk into the house and slam the door loudly behind me; putting yet another wall between us.

**…**

"Okay, now I'm going to shine a light into your eyes to check your pupils…looking good...alright, now follow my finger with your eyes as I move it…very good." Cassie says finally. "You seem to be pretty healthy despite your recent injury and it looks like it's mostly healed…I'd still recommend a few days of bed rest and a few hearty meals, but everything seems to be working just fine."

Khan nods curtly and suddenly jerks back as a blue rubber ball flies past his face and bounces off of the wall behind him.

"Aw!" Aaron whines. "You were supposed to catch it, Khan!"

"Perhaps another time." Khan squeezes past the boy and marches briskly through the hallway. "Ze'eva?" He calls and he finds the girl looking through a box in the living room. "What are you doing?"

"Checking for explosive devices. What about you?"

He raises an eyebrow. "Explosive devices?"

"I was being facetious—you missed it, but don't feel too bad: most people tend to miss my sarcasm. I think I do it wrong. The man, who was just here, Savek, gave this to me. I'm looking through it."

"And what have you found?"

"An outdated PADD, a personal journal, a photo album, a few t-shirts and blouses, about five books on varying subjects, and two scientific notebooks…an old laptop with its power cord and mouse…and a flash drive…all of which once belonged to my mother."

"And why would he have had these things?"

"Who knows? Maybe he _stole _it when he kidnapped my sisters."

What I didn't know was that, as much as I didn't care for Savek, I would rather have a thousand meetings with him rather than to face what was to come soon.

But life doesn't always give us the luxury of choosing our fate.


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33**

Scotty glares and Keenser, who is sitting on the staircase railing, "Get down!" The Scotsman orders and, sadly, Keenser climbs down and walks over to his friend, his head bowed in silent shame.

"Zo? Vhat is it like here?" Chekov asks.

"Well, everything here is basically designed to kill people, so… things are never boring." I reply and he swallows.

"Vhy is that?" He leans forward lightly, his elbows on his knees, his chin in his hands. "Vhy is everything zo dangerous here?"

Cassie chuckles at us and shakes her head. "I doubt she even knows." She mutters and Khan looks at her in surprise. "Here, Ze'eva, I've got this: remember the Eugenic Wars?" Chekov nods and Cassie continues.

"Well, during the Eugenic Wars, some humans were unsure of whether or not we'd become extinct as a species, so, we sent out some crafts to locate a planet suitable for humans. And, we found this place. Sector 31 got involved to create creatures that would kill Augments but protect the human populace."

"And then something went wrong." Kirk walks in and looks as Cassie expectantly. "Right?"

"Yep. The creatures turned on the humans and bred rapidly."

"Which in turn, created an incredibly hostile planet…but why did the human populace choose to stay here? It is not logical." Spock says.

Cassie and I share a look. They didn't return because Earth wouldn't take them back. Our ancestors weren't welcome on the planet that they had once called home and no amount of pleading or begging would change the minds of the politicians. It was figure out how to live here, or die.

It didn't matter to the Earth people that the government scientist who created the mess they were in had been allowed to leave with no consequences…for whatever reason, we were forced to stay.

And adapt.

"Not enough fuel." I supply. Technically, it was an excuse the Earth's politicians had supplied. "And the possibility of carrying dangerous foreign pathogens." I yawn. "Didn't you guys learn that in school? It's pretty common knowledge here."

"No. There is no record of this." Spock says, small rivelts of confusion passing across the usual still and calm surface of his face. "Fascinating. And you people have been here ever since the Eugenic Wars?"

I nod. "Yep."

"Hm." He gets a blank look in his eyes as he drifts into deep thought. Cassie and I share a look—Vulcans.

**…**

"How long will everyone be gone?" Khan asks as he bites into an orange.

Ze'eva yawns again. "About four hours. Scotty needs to repair the warp core and Truk is taking the kids to the park to get out them out of the house a bit."

"Why do you hate Savek?" Khan asks softly. "Is he dangerous?"

"He used to be." Ze'eva says with a shrug. "Or, at least…I had perceived that he was. He and my mom used to get into some very…" I search for the correct word. "Heated arguments. They could get pretty scary."

Khan nods, his blue eyes shining with an indecipherable emotion. "'Perceived'? He wasn't actually dangerous to be around?"

"According to what my mother wrote, it was a psychological test of some kind to see how well we would react to violence."

"And did you pass?"

"No, not even close." She gives a weak smile. "Passing would mean that I would have had to voluntarily attack him. Instead, I grabbed my family and got us out of house—away from the threat."

"Why did Cassie have to tell the story of your people?"

"I never went to school." Surprise leaps through Khan's chest. She never went to school? "And I never really learned about the Eugenic wars—I never saw the point. What little I read seemed to be a little…I don't know. The facts didn't really line up, so I chose to not even bother with it."

So, she may not even know what he did during those times or even his actual age? Why would Star Fleet pick her _of all people_ to 'rehabilitate' him without even bothering to tell him how dangerous he was! He killed millions! Surely it was worth warning his caretaker about! How could you put someone on a suicide mission without ever telling them of the danger?

Unless…someone wanted her dead.

**…**

"Heads up!" Cassie chucks an apple at my head and I catch it neatly. "So, how's rehabilitation going? Anything new?"

"Still no one dead. That any good or nah?"

"I'd say it's good."

**…**

Khan rolls his eyes at the two of them and tenses when he sees Ze'eva freeze up, her muscles going rigid.

"What's wrong?" He growls. Ze'eva tackles Cassie to the ground as an explosion shakes the house, large flames leaping up the walls.

"Not again!" Cassie yelps but Ze'eva and Khan drag the woman to her feet and race for the front door. Masked soldiers begin to pour inside, firing their weapons at the trio.

"Run! Quickly!" Ze'eva says but it's no use.

Phaser blasts hit them all squarely in the chest, throwing them to the ground. Khan roars and struggles to his knees only to be shot three move times. Dazed, he blinks up at the ceiling, his vision unfocused and blurry and one of the soldiers kicks him hard in the head before shooting him point-blank in the chest. With a gasp, Khan is dragged into the darkness that is his mind.

**…**

It's cold and dark: every villagers' nightmare.

Someone to my right (…Cassie?) coughs and I sit up slowly, blinking away sleep. My chest aches and my body feels like it's made of lead…but nothing feels broken.

"Are you okay?" I slur. "Hello?"

"Fine." I look and in the cell in front of me Khan is rubbing his head angrily, his temples pounding furiously. "What about you?"

"Fine." My words come easier now. Smoother. "What about Cassie?" I force myself to sit up, my arms quivering with effort. "Can you see her? Is she alright?"

"She's beside me in the next cell over, and she's still breathing. So, I assume that she is fine. Do you know where we are?"

I look around carefully and my heart drops like a stone in water: "We are Meditech headquarters…and no one has ever escaped from it."

Not even me.


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34**

Cassie is sitting up and she's shivering violently, her arms crossed across her knees. So much fear is coming off of her that my nose is starting to burn. Badly.

"Are we going to die?" Cassie asks and she shivers harder.

" No." My voice sounds flat. Unconvincing. "We'll be fine."

"Haven't you ever heard of these people? Ze'eva, they're lunatics! They kill people for fun!"

"We'll be fine." I repeat, firmer this time.

"How do you know?" She's starting to cry and hyperventilate. She never has been good under pressure.

"She's right." Khan says loudly, his voice echoing painfully across the cold air. "We will be fine. We must remain calm." He shoots her a pointed look which is lost on her, because she's looking at the floor. Not him. "Cassie. Stop. Now." His voice gets cold and angry and she stops blubbering for a minute and nods.

"Okay." She sounds breathless and terrified. "Alright." She nods to herself and I'm beginning to wonder whether or not she's just lost her mind—it's that bad. "So…what are we going to do?" She looks at me and Khan follows her gaze.

His eyebrow raises and a look of amusement lights up his face.

If I was the same cell with him, I would have slapped him.

Brutally.

And without remorse.

"We're going to…" I trail off. _I don't know. I don't know what we're going to do! Why did she ask _me?!_ What am _I_ going to do: pull a plan out of my _sleeves?_ Do I _look_ like a _wizard?! "Um…" The door slams open and a burst of freezing air follows it.

"Hello." Monotonous. Flat. "How are you?"

I glare at the man and jump to my feet, my back straight, my eyes narrowed, and my head held high. How dare he? If looks could kill, I'd have viciously murdered him ten times over by now. He blinks at me, a small flicker of amusement lighting up his dead eyes.

I glare back unflinchingly.

_Try it,_ I dare him silently. _Just try to hurt me and I'll have your head on a wooden stake by high noon, tomorrow. And they'll_ never find _the body._

"I hope you enjoy your stay here." He smiles but it is a cold predatory snarl void of joy. "You will be here for a long time." His eyes flicker over to Cassie. "At least…most of you will." Her face loses all color. "But no matter. I'll you alone for a while." He walks to the doors and looks back almost casually. "Good night."

SLAM!

And he's gone.

"We're all going to die!" And then she starts crying.

Right now, I'm not sure who I'm more irritated with: him for kidnapping us and the torture to come or Cassie for breaking down so easily. Like a sniveling child. I sigh.

"No, we're not. We're going to get out." I can feel Khan shifting his gaze from Cassie to me but I refuse to look at him. Instead I focus on Cassie. "I promise. We'll get out; now shut up. I need to think."

**…**

She paces for hours: back and forth, and back and forth. Over and over until he's sure she'll burn a hole in the ground from all that walking before she finally stops and sits down, resting her elbows on her knees and glaring at the wall in front of her.

"Any ideas?" He inquires, tilting his head a little to the side.

She shakes her head a little. "I had five."

"Had?"

"Cassie. They won't work with her; she won't be able to handle it. So, back to square one. What about you, Khan? Any bright ideas on how to escape this place?"

"No."

But he did find it interesting how the doctor only really focused on Ze'eva. Khan was an Augment—millions of scientists over the universe wanted to rip him apart. If anything, the girls would be the hostages and he the main focus.

But he wasn't.

_Why?_

"What are you to him?" Khan growls, shivering slightly in the cold. His breath frosting outside of his mouth and nose.

"Spare parts." She turns away and lies flat on the ground and Khan blinks in surprise. That was not the answer he had expected.

**…**

BANG!

A shot fires in the air and they scramble to their feet.

"Good morning. Are you ready to begin?"

The man asks and the floor to Ze'eva cell suddenly swoops downwards like a horizontal door opening. Cassie screams and runs to the front of her cage and bangs her hands against the thick glass as Ze'eva vanishes into the dark pit.

"What are you doing?" Cassie screams. "What are you going to do to her?"

"Break her." Cassie freezes, the blood draining from her face. "Don't worry too much. You guys' turn will come soon enough. After all, we are professionals, young lady…" he gives her a cruel smile, an evil glint in his eyes. "And professionals don't pick favorites." He walks calmly back out the doors and Cassie slams her hands against the glass again.

"Ze'eva!"

"Enough!" Khan snaps and Cassie freezes in place. "Calm down or I will find a way into your cell and strangle you into unconsciousness." He snarls. "Make one more _peep_ and you will regret it! If you so much as breath the wrong way…" He trails off, allowing her to fill in the possibilities and she automatically falls silent, her eyes as wide as dinner plates. "We will be fine." He continues.

"But if you panic like that again without good enough reason, I will make it my _personal agenda_ to make sure that you do not come out of this unscathed." His voice, although low, is filled with a dark menace that makes Cassie's skin crawl with terror and she nods quickly to show that she understands.

"Okay." She says shakily. "Alright…I'm…I'm fine now."

**…**

They drag her in through the doors, hours later and through her roughly into the cell. She stumbles on her feet and collapses to the floor weakly, unable to hold her wait on her own two feet.

"Ze'eva?" Cassie calls quietly. "Are you okay? Come on, say something. Anything…Ze'eva?"

Khan watches the lifeless form carefully for any signs of movement.

"She's breathing." He informs Cassie.

But she had been badly beaten. Her nose is bleeding, her arm cut to the bone; the black fabric of her long sleeved shirt is dark with blood. She shivers uncontrollably and Khan wonders just how long it will take for her to catch hyperthermia or pneumonia in this temperature…or if she'd just freeze to death completely.

She moves a little and forces herself to sit up, panting slightly. Khan can see a large bruise developing on her right cheek and can feel anger starting to burn its way through his body.

"What happened?" Cassie asks and Ze'eva shakes her head.

"Doesn't matter." She says breathlessly. "It's over. For now."

"They didn't break you?"

"No…but, then again, they never could." She gives a wry smile and curls her fingers around her wrist. It's a little swollen; is it sprained?

"How do you feel? Anything broken?"

"I'll be fine in a few hours—no biggie, Cassie. Really. I'm okay." She has yet to look at either of them and instead thoroughly analyzes her cell, but, if it's anything like his, there's no way out.

"Did you see any possible escape routes? Anything we could use?" Khan asks, standing stiffly.

And his heart drops as she shakes her head. "No. Nothing."

He sighs. "Then it will only be that much harder." His blue eyes blaze dangerously and Ze'eva looks him over for a minute before returning her gaze to the cell walls.

"You've done this before?" She looks back at him and looks away. "Escaped from places like this?"

"Yes." He says, his tone leaving no room for conversation. "I have."

**…**

The next day they drag me away and force to fight. Everytime I defeat an opponent, another is thrown in: all children. It's win or die…but I don't kill them. I knock them out and step away, allowing their unconscious bodies to be retrieved before the next one is thrown in.

Weak and bleeding the drag me into a room and force a needle into my arm, stealing pints of the precious, life-giving liquid. And then depositing me into an isolation chamber.

No bed.

No food.

No water.

And no lights.

_Well, at least they have that famous southern hospitality,_ I think sarcastically. I spend an eternity in that room before they drag me back to my cell. But I'm still not broken. I'm tired and hungry and weak…but not broken.

_They will _not _break me._

I won't let them.

…

Khan's eyes harden at seeing my injuries and seeing my limp badly, keeping all my weight off my right leg…but he says nothing. Instead, his eyes unfocused and he stares at the floor. Cassie is gone.

Defeated.

"Look at me." I command him sharply. He looks up at me and looks at me as if seeing me for the very first time. "We're getting out of here. Keeping thinking of escape plans. If we both work on it, one of us is bound to hit gold, okay?" His eyes drop back to the floor. "Khan…" He looks back up at hearing my sad tone. "I can't do this alone. Cassie isn't a strategist. She's never been in a stressful situation—not one that matters. I need someone else who can help me think something up—something useful. So, will you help me…or…at least, like…try or something?"

"Yes." He looks away again.


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35**

"So…how was your day?" I ask Khan and he sighs.

"Boring." Khan growls, crossing his hands over his chest in irritation.

Cassie shivers and grins at him and then me crookedly saying, "Well, I'd rather it be boring than painful."

I nod to that.

Yesterday, they had stolen blood from all of us, but they had taken considerably more blood from Khan and me than from Cassie. Which was understandable, I guess. After all, her blood was normal, Khan was an Augment, and I was a genetic abnormality. By stealing our blood, they had acquired our DNA to study…and alter as they saw fit.

"So, what do you think usually happens here?" Cassie asks, looking around at the cold white walls.

"Genetic experimentation, subjects are typically tested psychologically, mentally, and physically, and torture." They both look at me and I shrug. "Well, you did ask."

"And…how would you know?"

"I've been here before." I say softly. "And it's not that great a place…"

Khan watches me carefully, eyes narrowed.

An alarm goes off and we freeze. My stomach begins to drop.

"What is that? What's going on?" Cassie yells and Khan flashes her a cold look.

She silences immediately.

"Calm down and put your back against a wall—quickly!" I snap and they do.

"And what should we expect to happen?" Khan's eyes harden and something tells me he doesn't need to ask to know that something bad is about to occur.

"Violence. There's a door connected to each cell that blends into the wall that will swing open and a combatant will enter through it and attempt to take your life." I say and Cassie winces. "It doesn't always happen but that alarm usually accompanies that type of situation…but it could be anywhere in the building." I look over at my door and watch it carefully. It's still closed. Good. "There are experiments here that are also in cells just like these—it could apply to them and not us."

"You sure?"

"Yep." I look over my cell again and sigh: it's not going to be easy getting out of here.

"Now what?" Cassie looks at me.

"Now, we wait."

For hours, nothing happens. And then Khan's door slams open, but he's ready for it. The moment the attacker burst into his cell, Khan strikes. A swift kick to the assailant's skull and they're dead at his feet.

_Wait…but he can't hurt people with his collar being on? Did it break?_

Another bursts through and then another but he dispatches them easily. Cassie closes her eyes and turns away, but I can't. I can't believe it. I can't believe the ease of which he kills them—no remorse in his eyes. No confliction. No hesitation.

Just blazing and untamable hatred.

When the last one hits the ground he just stands in the middle of the room, panting heavily, anger radiating off his tense form. For a few minutes no one says anything as Khan breathes in and out before finally calming down.

"That was considerably less difficult to manage than you made it sound." Khan purrs.

Well, I think. We can't all be cold-blooded murderers.

"No…" I say slowly. "I guess not."

**…**

Today they drag Khan away. I could hear Khan as he howled with pain and rage but it sounds far away and distant, like almost inaudible whisper carried by an uncaring breeze. Shortly after, they take me back into the isolation room and slam the door behind me, allowing the darkness to close in. I feel my way to one of the far corners and sit down slowly with my back to the wall and my knees drawn protectively over my chest.

I'm afraid of being trapped in enclosed spaces.

But I'm afraid I'm of the dark more.

**…**

His blue eyes burn with barely concealed rage and indignation at his treatment. He had finally escaped the cruel clutches of Sector 31 and allowed himself to slowly drop some of his defenses only to find himself as a lab rat, yet again. All the cruelty he experiences and all of his struggles were repeating once more.

Now, instead of protecting his crew, he needs to save his new adoptive family.

And he doesn't think that he can…he probably can't even save himself.

They had broken his arm earlier and drilled into the bone to extract the marrow…all without anesthesia. He had howled in agony but, as expected, no one raced to save him. No one even heard. Instead, they moved on to the next arm and left him alone, shivering and in pain, to heal himself so that they could move on to the next step: his lifeblood.

All at once, the doctors, decked out in their white gloves, coats, and masks leave Khan alone with numerous tubes running from his veins to collection jars. The needles sting his skin when he tries to move against the restraints holding him down and he watches as bright, red blood is forced out of his veins and into the containers before craning his neck to look about him wildly.

Something had changed.

But what?

The door opens and shuts and a woman walks in, her shoes clacking loudly against the hard tiled floors. Her eyes are narrowed slightly at him and he glares at her upon recognition. She never flinches away. Her long hair is pulled into a light ponytail and she dons a long white lab coat. Her eyes are cold and laughing.

They're hazel with large specks of green around the pupil.

Apparently, the pawn had not fallen, as he had originally thought.

"Miss me?" She asks before pulling out all of the needles and shooting a strong sedative into his system. His eyelids flicker drowsily and his head drops limply to the side: a mild paralytic.

The substance itself didn't particularly worry him: in fact he had expected it.

What worried him helpless and weakened with a person with a wild feral look in her eyes. And the fact that she was reaching for a knife.

**…**

They throw him into a dark room and his bare feet ache from the cold. His torso still burns where she stabbed him to steal parts of certain organ and he feels dizzy and weak. The cold seeps easier into his bones now that they had stolen both his shoes and shirt, leaving him in thin black sweat pants.

For this humiliation, he would make them pay.

Dearly.

He reaches out an arm to help him grope along the wall and his eyes narrow as he tries to pick out anything to help him find his way but he has no such luck. Even with his advanced senses, even he, the King of the Augments, is sightless: another cruel jab at his pride.

**…**

I hear the door swing shut and the blackness moves and shifts around me like a wild panther stalking the length of its pen: dark and dangerous. Something is moving.

My heart quickens and I look around only to see the same thing I've been staring out for hours: nothing. I want to run so far that my feet bleed and my lungs burst, but any miniscule movement could send me sprawling right back to the ground. And in a fight, if you fall to the ground, you forfeit your life. It'd be better until whatever it was got closer and then I could slip away to the other side of the room…and maybe wrench open the door and make a run for it through the pitch black hallways.

If I'm lucky, I'll be able to find my way to the cell block and I can liberate Cassie and Khan too. But first, I need to survive this encounter. I sure hope they're faring better than I am…

**…**

He hears something inhale quickly and he pauses. Part of him wants to call out to see if anyone else is trapped down here as well, but that would be foolish. His hands curl easily into fists. It would be better to stay silent and find whatever is in here before it finds him.

And then kill it.

His feet move tentatively forward and every muscle and sense is on high alert. If he is to die, he will take something with him. The air around him shifts and he pauses to taste the air: sweat, and dirt, and fear, and a mild undercurrent of anger. Strange. There's a scraping sound to his immediate left as if a monster is rising to its feet.

With a roar, Khan lunges forward and his fingers curl around a wad of fabric. The creature yelps and he brings his other hand up and it curls instantly around it's throat. Claws tear into Khan's flash but he forces it easily against the wall. He leans forward shakily and used his weight to help pin it to the wall before releasing the fabric and swinging his arm back in preparation to punch.

**…**

Something's got me!

It's weight if crushing my chest and no matter how hard I try, I can't get lose. My lungs are screaming but, no matter how hard I try, I can't make a sound.

I CAN'T BREATH!

**…**

The lights flash down and Khan screws his eyes shut instantly before slowly opening them to find his hand around Ze'eva's throat. He releases her instantly and she jerks in sharp, jagged breaths. Unlike Kirk, she had her breath back in moments. Not for the first time, Khan wondered whether or not she was completely human.

"Are you alright?" He asks, feeling a little guilty for attacking her.

"Come at me." Her voice is still scratchy and a little strained but she stains easily. Khan moves a few feet back to give her more space to breath and grins slightly in relief: she's unharmed.

But for how long?


	36. Chapter 36

**Chapter 36**

Loud clapping snaps them both back to reality.

"You have no idea how…_relieved_ I was when you didn't kill her; it was a good thing I turned on the lights." The man's eyes zero in on Ze'eva and Khan can see her stiffen out of the corner of his eye, and Khan moves forward to put himself between her and the man. The man's voice goes cold and his eyes narrow into snakelike slits. "After all, what would we do without our _favorite_ little anomaly?"

"Leave her alone." The Augment growls threateningly.

"Or you will do what, exactly, _Khan?"_ A glass wall slams down from the ceiling, separating the captives from the warden. _"Attack_ me?" He sneers and Khan glowers at him. "Go ahead and try—_nothin_g can break through that glass." He walks away and out the doors.

"He called you an anomaly? Why?" Khan asks suddenly and Ze'eva's eyes drop to the ground. "Ze'eva?" He grabs her wrist firmly and squeezes, but he doesn't apply enough pressure to hurt her. "What did he mean?"

She pulls out of his grasp and backs away from him. "It doesn't matter."

She sits down with her back to the wall and he sits stiffly a few inches away from her making sure that they don't make physical contact.

"It does. He has a dangerous fascination with you and I can't help you if I don't know what's going on." He states matter-a-factly.

**…**

_And how will you do that?_ I think._ If you can't even save yourself? Not even _I_ could get me out of this mess: what are _you_ going to do? Crush his skull in? Threaten his family?_

I can't tell him my secret. In fact…I've never told it to _anyone_…not even Truk, and he's my husband! Why would I tell Khan: practically a random stranger?

"No." I say firmly. "It is not important." I glare at him but he holds my gaze easily.

"He will kill you." Khan replies simply. "Does that not matter to you? What about your children?"

My heart seems to freeze for a beat. He's right. What _would _they do without me? Growing up without a parent is hard…but growing up_ never knowing_ if your loved ones are even alive is agonizing. I can't do that to them, can I?

"Why do you care about my family?"

"Why do you care about me? Why fight for the life of a stranger when you had so many other problems going on? What was I to you? You helped me; Now it's my turn."

"What if I don't want your help? Then what, huh?"

_Are you going to attack again?_

He shrugs and the motion looks so alien that I find myself fighting a smile despite the grim circumstances and he nudges my arm lightly with his elbow. "Come now, it can't be that bad." He urges. Still, I say nothing and he sighs in mock defeat and tilts his head back so that it rest against the wall.

"When I was young, I watched as these monsters tortured my family and forced us to go through all these test. Little by little, our numbers dwindled until only the strongest were still alive. The others were either killed, shipped off to another facility to act as a lab rats, or used as spare parts. For the humans." My blood curdles. "It was not a good time and it was filled with fear and uncertainty."

"What did you do?" I lean forward a little to study him.

"Escaped." He said simply. "And together, my family and I…my crew…we sought to build a better world." He gives a wry smile. "We failed." He stops talking.

"And then?"

He looks at me now. "You don't know?" He inquires.

"No…should I?"

"I had assumed it was common knowledge. Did you not learn of the Eugenic Wars at school?"

"I…never went to school." I can see the shock in his eyes and I swallow from embarrassment. "Cassie keeps telling me to learn them."

"But?"

"Well, what's the point of learning about something when over half of what they teach me is probably a lie anyway? They say that 'history is written by the victors'; if the Augments never told their part, how can we possibly say that we have the whole story? Anyone could say anything happened and there would be no one to contest it or set it straight."

He nods. "That sounds reasonable."

"So…what happened? After you failed?"

He sighs and his eyes waters slightly. "We ran away, into the stars. I cryogenically froze my crew and myself, hoping that, when we awoke, things would be…better."

"And they weren't." I say softly, this much, at least I knew. He was awoken by the late Admiral Marcus and forced to build weapons under the false pretense that the Star Fleet Admiral would not kill his people. He was wrong.

"Not entirely, no."

I inhale deeply and sigh. "I don't want to talk about it, okay?" I can tell he's disappointed but he doesn't voice it. "Are you angry at me?" I ask finally, breaking the silence. He looks at me for a while.

His blue eyes seeming to stare right through me before he finally shakes his head in sharp calculated angles from side to side.

"No." He says quietly.

"…Are you lying?"

"Have I ever lied to you?" He asks, an amused tone creeping into his voice.

"I don't know: have you?" I fire back and he smirks a little.

"Maybe." He admits with a sly smile. "But you can prove nothing."

We sit there for a moment, just enjoying one another's company, and it feels nice to be in the same room with someone who doesn't particularly wish to rip me to shreds, light me on fire, and dance on my grave. But hey, at least I'm an optimist.

"Did you know that all my siblings, including me, are part Vulcan?" I ask and Khan raises an eyebrow at me.

"No."

"Well, did you know that Vulcans are even more awesome than Augments?" I give him a joking smile and he tilts his head to the side and studies me.

"How so?"

"The pointed ears."

**…**

We sit in silence before they come to take us away. Roughly eight guards take him one direction and three take me the other. I glance back over at him over my shoulder but he never looks back. He's dead silent and marches stiffly, not once acknowledging the ones who lead him towards uncertainty. Because I'm being taken back to the cells.

I don't know where they're taking him.

**Hi! It may be a while before I post another chapter, but I'll get back to it as soon as I can. Hope you enjoyed reading and please review. Sorry about the errors before: they have been fixed.**


	37. Chapter 37

**Sorry about the last chapter: the errors have been fixed.**

**Chapter 37**

He paces the length of his new cell from side to side. They left him alone in this freezing white prison hours ago. It's a small cell: roughly ten feet by twenty feet. The calls are all solid white except for the front which is made up of thick glass. Outside his cell was a larger room, empty and grey. Two locked mechanical doors at each side. Even if he could somehow escape his prison, he'd only be trapped in another one.

He sighs: this may be harder than he had originally thought.

**…**

The door swishes open with blinding speed and someone races wildly into the room and the lean figure ducks as a huge metal table is hurled at them.

"Nice try." The figure comes to a stop in front of the glass and pants. "But it looks like you missed." She draws in a deep breath and exhales. "Again."

With a roar, the assailant rushes forward to tackle her to the floor but she dodges easily and Khan catches a glimpse of her face: Ze'eva. Her attacker slams hard into the wall, bending the metal in a little. Angrily, he rises to his feet and glowers dangerously at Ze'eva but she holds his gaze easily, a single eyebrow raised.

"You know; we don't have to fight. You can still walk away." She offers calmly but he ignores her and charges again, this time running into the glass.

It doesn't even crack.

Khan is on his feet and he slams his fist next to the boy's head.

He doesn't even flinch.

"Go, on." She challenges. "Try it again: I dare you." She squares her shoulders and Khan yells at her to run. She doesn't seem to notice. Furiously, the boy runs at her again and again she dodges nimbly out of the way. Another boy enters the room and Ze'eva looks at them both coolly. As the first goes to tackle her, she dodges and he flies into the first one, rendering the newcomer temporarily disorientated as his head snaps into the hard floor.

"Get out of here." Khan warns her. "Run!" But again, she doesn't seem to hear his words.

The boy obviously had genetically enhanced strength and had no qualms whatsoever about killing her. Frowning, Khan looks at the glass closer before shaking his head in irritation: it was a one way mirror. He could see and hear her, but she could only hope for the same thing. Right now, he may as well be a ghost with all the help he's doing for her.

"You will regret that!" The first boy rises to his feet and helps his friend stand as well. The two glare at the girl and tower over her. Ze'eva pants a little but she holds her ground.

"Will I now?" She asks, tilting her head to the side and narrowing her eyes in mock joy. He goes to punch her and she moves to the side, easily avoiding the blow.

"Nope. Guess I won't," She says.

He tries to kick her this time and misses yet again. His friend joins in but even with their combined numbers they are unable to lay even so much as a finger on her as she twists and steps easily out of the way of their well-aimed blows.

"Very sloppy. Who taught you how to punch—a little girl?" She mocks. Khan can feel his stomach turning to lead. _This will only enrage them farther and make them more dangerous! Is she _insane?_ What is she _doing?

Very slowly, she's luring them towards a wall and she stops when her back comes in contact with it. They have now trapped her in a corner. Unable to run, they'd make quick work of her, snapping her bones and crushing the life out of her in an enraged frenzy. _Look at what you've gotten yourself into now_, Khan thinks.

But she doesn't seem worried in the slightest.

"What's wrong?" She asks him after a few minutes. "Can't hit a girl?" She sneers.

The boy's arm shoots out and she twists out of the way and behind him, running towards the other side of the room as his hand comes in contact with a large metal box Khan had not noticed before: a fuse box. Electricity courses through him and he drops to the ground, barely breathing. The friend races after her and she turns quickly on her heel to kick him hard in the jaw. He falls to his knees and she delivers a savage blow to his forehead and watches as he slumps to the ground unconscious.

"Well," Ze'eva pants. "That wasn't too bad."

Slowly, she sinks to her knees and looks around her at the cold walls, her eyes coming to rest on the glass and, for a moment, Khan wonders if she can see him before quickly dismissing the idea.

"What now?" She yells up at the roof. "I've run your stupid maze a thousand times, given a few dozen quarts of blood, and outwitted your best soldiers! You about done, yet? This is growing tedious, old man!"

Even through all her bravado, Khan could see the fear that shadows her sinewy form. It whispers in her voice and presents itself in her tensed body language. It lurks in her wide eyes and erratic heart beat and permeates the very air.

**…**

Khan is returned to the cell block that night and he stares evenly at Ze'eva. She is asleep with her right wrist clutched to her chest. Her body is curled into a ball and her brow is furrowed in worry. Purple bruises kiss her skin and her lip is split. Dried blood presents itself as that bottom of her nose and Khan feels another firestorm of rage igniting within his very core as he watches her shiver violently, and Khan wonders just how long their immune systems will be able to fight off illnesses in these glacial and damp conditions. Cassie cries silently: her shoulders shaking with quiet sobs, her head buried in her knees, her arms crossed over her chest.

"We will get out of here." He says softly and he sees her shake her head. He sighs. Even a trained assassin was useless if they had lost the will to fight. He considers saying something to buoy her spirits…but he is Khan Noonien Singh: blood thirsty murderer and madman—not exactly the person who went trying to make people 'feel better' about their problems.

His eyes shut and he drops off to sleep, dead to the world.

**…**

Creak.

Khan ignores the sound and furrows his eyebrows as he tries to go back to sleep…when something hard and metal slams into the ground and screams loudly. His eyes fly open and he sees Ze'eva dropping to the ground outside her cell via air duct.

"So, remember when I said I was a ninja? Well, I lied. I'm actually Batman." She opens his cell door and moves quickly to let Cassie out. "And I'm in need of a Robin…but you're kind of crazy so…would you be the Joker to my Batman?"

"It is my understanding that they are enemies." Khan says, fighting back a smile as she rushes towards one of the consoles on the wall.

"Well, you're mentally unstable and kill people randomly and so does the Joker…"

"Correct…" He drags the word out to prompt her to continue with her train of thought.

"Bite me." She types furiously into the device before grabbing Cassie's arm and breaking into a sprint. Apparently, her train of thought crashed violently into a cliff, fell off a bridge, and exploded. Epically. "Come on, gramps! There's no time to grab the wheelchair; we're hoofing it!"

He matches her stride for stride as they race through deserted hallways and she runs through them as if she'd ran them a thousand times before…and who knows? Maybe she had…

"Where are we going?" Khan asks as they take another right turn and she quickly opens the door, allowing sunlight to wash over them.

She smiles widely at him: "Is the outside world good enough for you? Or were you hoping for Gotham?"


	38. Chapter 38

**Sorry for the delay. I've gotten shamefully behind on another Fanfic and have been trying to juggle my time between the two. Hope this chapter makes up for it. **

**Chapter 38**

"So, what now?" Cassie looks and Ze'eva and she shrugs.

"We run; what else?" With that, she gabs Cassie's arm and drags her into a jog and Khan jogs easily beside the two. Once Ze'eva is satisfied that Cassie will run on her own, her releases the woman's arm and sprints quickly ahead before coming to an abrupt stop and looking back at them.

"Right…" She says softly. "We're working as team…well, this is going to take forever." She sighs.

"Good to know we have an optimist in the group," Khan says sarcastically and Ze'eva smirks.

"Well…I guess we can just run east. There's a huge canyon we can use to our advantage if they decide to follow us and it has a respectable amount of water and food resources."

"But how are we going to get through it?" Cassie complains. "Neither you nor I have ever traveled through this canyon of yours and I'm pretty sure that Khan didn't either."

"I've walked this canyon a thousand times and a thousand different ways. I've scaled up the cliffs, canoed down it's rivers, and never got myself killed a million different ways. Trust me, I have this place pretty mapped out. It'll be easy."

"And exactly when did you find the time to go through this thing?"

"Remember the Human Vulcan Wars? You know, when everyone wanted to kill the Vulcans and subsequently me? What else did you think I did? Exploration was both a necessity as well as a good pass time. I could entertain myself while spotting new places we could live if anything…bad happened."

"Well, lead the way, then." Cassie sighs. "If we die, I'm going to kill you."

"In that case, you're the first to go." Ze'eva says with a grin and she breaks into a sprint before Cassie can hit her. Khan smirks at the pair before quickly pulling the emotionless mask back on. Now was not the time to be amused.

Right now, they needed to run.

**…**

"Well, that took forever." Cassie whines and I have the sudden urge to tackle her to the ground.

"I never said the canyon was close."

"You never said it was this far away, either."

"What's done is done." Khan growls.

"Let's find some shelter for the night," Ze'eva proposes. "It's going to be dark soon."

**…**

Khan builds a fire and Ze'eva offers to take first watch. The fire cackles and sissles. Cassie rolls into a ball and falls asleep quickly. Ze'eva sits in the mouth of the cave, her elbows resting lightly on her knees. Her eyes are narrowed in concentration as she watches the stars flicker in the darkness above.

"How long until we are in civilization?" Khan whispers.

"At this pace? A week or two." She shrugs. "It would be so much faster if…" She stops talking and continues to study the stars.

"If what?" She shakes her head but he prompts her again. "Ze'eva?"

"If I were alone." She says finally. "I wouldn't have to show you guys what's good to eat or drink and just what could kill you. I wouldn't have to worry about finding a large shelter that we could all fit into or have to worry about leaving someone behind or someone getting injured because the route I took was dangerous." She sighs. "It's always got to be so complicated."

"You've done this before haven't you?" He lies on the ground, laying on his back with his head rest against his arm.

"Yeah." She nods. "Many times…not from this facility but…it is the same basic concept."

"And you were treated as an experiment?"

"I was treated like spare parts: me and the rest of my people."

**…**

He falls asleep with the fire warming his body from the roots of his dark hair to the very tips of his pale toes.

_He remembers cold, and fear, and uncertainty. Pain shoots through his body and every nerve is simultaneously stinging with the sensation of burning and numbness. Dead silence greets his ears as he gasps for breathe as his body is reanimated bit by bit. A withered old man with a cold gleam in his eyes towers over him with a greedy smile on his lips._

_"__Hello, Mr. Singh," The man purrs, "I am Admiral Marcus; you work me now."_

_"__I serve _no man_. I will _die_ before I serve a _worm_ such as you" Khan snarls; his lungs burn and his voice is scratchy from hundreds years of silence._

_"__That was an unwise choice of words, Khan." Marcus growls as he drops the pretense of polite formalities. "You will serve me or you will watch your people burn."_

_Armed guards march into the room and drag Khan's weak body out of the pod and drop him painfully to the ground on his stomach. His forehead slams into the hard floor and he's too weak to life his head to glare at the man who dares to threaten him. _Khan's _words were 'unwise'? He would make the Admiral pay dearly for this day and make the old man wish he was never born. One guard puts his boot onto Khan's back and pain explodes in the Augment's spine. He groans but refuses to scream. The guard's rough fingers curl angrily into his hair and drag his head up to force him to look up at the Admiral._

_"__I don't need your trust." The Admiral snarls. "I don't need your respect. But I will have your cooperation and don't think for a second that I will not kill your friends to get it. You are nothing more than a parasite—it's about time you did something for society to benefit from." _

_The Admiral nods to the guard and he releases his hold on Khan's head and steps off of his back. Him and another man drag Khan to his feet by his arms and force him to stand on trembling legs. Khan lifts his eyes to glare at Marcus and shame burns through him. He hates his current temporary physical weakness. If her were stronger, he would have snapped this man's neck without a second's hesitation before moving on the guards, saving the one who harmed him for last to make his death _especially 'pleasant'_._

_"__Take him to his cell." The Admiral snaps, some spit flying into Khan's gaze as the words shoot out of his mouth. "And if he tries to escape, drag one of the Augmented children out and kill them." His eyes harden. "Slowly._


	39. Chapter 39

**A special thanks goes out to Sassiebone, ****Cerulean F. Revelle****, ****Semperi Lannor****, ****NerdyChicksHaveMoreFun****,and ****kaaca**** for reviewing. Your comments have been EXTREMELY helpful as well as encouraging. You people rock (as in you are awesome, not that you're actual rocks).**

**Chapter 39**

"Wake up." Ze'eva says softly as she watches Khan tense in his sleep, the bitter stench of fear coming off of him in waves. "Khan!" She kicks him sharply in the side and he jerks away, his hand flying up to catch her ankle; he misses. "Calm down." She says gently. "It's only a dream."

He nods to her gratefully and sits up in a single fluid movement.

"So, do you want to talk about it?" Ze'eva asks.

"You have PTSD and nightmares every night which makes you afraid to fall asleep and often you only get three to four hours a sleep a day because of your dreams. Do you want to talk about it?" He shoots back.

"No need to get hostile," She mutters angrily, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at him, burning blue-green eyes burning into icy blue: a wildfire attacking a howling and powerful blizzard.

"You think this is _hostile?"_ Khan snarls. "Do you know the things of which_ they_ are capable? You know nothing of _darkness_ or _hostility._ Your world is made up of _sunshine _and _good deeds_. The hardest decision _you_ have to make it whether to save the orphans first or do a food-drop for the impoverished people in the nearby cities!"

Cassie wakes up and looks at the two of them curiously. Fear trickles up her spine at Khan's tone and for a minute, she finds herself wondering if Khan is about to tackle Ze'eva and crush her skull between his long, slender, white fingers.

"You think you_ know_ danger?" Khan continues angrily, his heart racing in his chest. "You think you have a _right_ to fear? You don't know what it is like to have your family in danger and not knowing whether or not they will live! You don't know what it is like to live day by day in cell, not knowing if everything will be okay!"

"I do, actually." She says and Cassie looks at her friend, confused, but neither Ze'eva or Khan seem to notice that she's awake…and right now, she'd rather them ignore her than for their anger project to her next.

"I used to live in a cell for months at a time and watch as those lunatics ripped my siblings and me apart for blood, marrow, and parts of our organs. People like us never survive to adulthood. We were children and had an ax over our head…and a clock rapidly counting down. I had to watch them starve and be tortured without ever knowing why. I had to watch my sister, Roni, lie comatose in a hospital bed, knowing full good and well that she would never wake up. I had my bones and spirit broken time after time and had to watch my mother break when saw the condition we were in when they 'so graciously' decided to return us." Her eyes narrow as she looks at Khan. "And I know better than most what lurks in the darkness, I know pain, and I know fear—and how dare you say otherwise!"

She continues: "I know what it's like to be hated because of your genes and to watch my family get hurt and powerless to stop it. If you're looking for someone to throw you a pity party, then I highly suggest that you find someone else." She pauses. "Because you're not going to find it here."

"And why would they do that to you?"

"Because, I'm an experiment."

"Really?" He rolls his eyes in disbelief. To his surprise, she rolls up her right sleeve and he sees a string of letters and numbers carved into her forearm with black ink. V: 40, H: 10, Ak: 50, A7777. What in the world?

"It's my DNA." She explains. "I'm forty percent Vulcan, ten percent human, and 50 percent of something else. A7777 is my serial number."

"I never knew." Khan says softly and Ze'eva shrugs.

"No one did, except Truk. I didn't want anyone to know—too dangerous."

"How?"

"Because, I got away. My siblings and I were allowed home and then the Human Vulcan wars hit. The scientist had introduced a chemical compound into our atmosphere that tore away a Vulcan's reason and reduced them into savage and murderous lunatics. The humans retaliated and killed anyone with Vulcan DNA…even though anyone who had a combination of Vulcan DNA and human DNA. So, I took to the woods and took my brother, Eliezer, with me."

"And your sisters?"

"My father had come back the day before the compound was released and kidnapped them. He dragged them into his ship and flew off before I could get them back…I didn't know if they were alive. After that, I hid from everyone. I had no friends—I didn't want any."

"But I was your friend." Cassie says softly. "So was Truk."

"No, you weren't. I didn't like you. In fact, I hated you…and Truk. I didn't trust humans at all, especially everything the White Coats had done. Eventually, I just kind of…got over it. I guess."

"I don't trust them either." Khan says softly.

_He had tried to escape, not believing that Sector 31 would not go through with their threats…but they had. Khan had been recaptured within an hour of his escape and beaten brutally within an inch of his life. The moment he regained contiousness they had dragged one of the children in front of his cell. Khan's hands had been bounds behind his back with strong cuffs that locked him to the cold metal walls. As they took the terrified kid's life Khan could only scream in vain for them to stop._

_They didn't._

_When the body hit the floor, his head had dropped to his chest, tears running down his cheeks. The Admiral had walked up, three feet of reinforced glass separating the monster from the broken man with the metal cage, and he smiled wickedly at Khan._

_"__I had warned, but you didn't listen, did you? Take this as a warning. Next time, we won't be so merciful." He turns on his heel and strides away from Khan. "Clean up this mess and put that." He gives the dead child on the floor a disgusted look. "And put that in the trash." He leaves. _

_The lights flicker off, burying the former dictator under a suffocating pillow of darkness. He breathes harshly, rage and sorrow battling for equal recognition. _How could he do that to an innocent child? _Khan had wondered. But, evil was like that. If he wanted to live, he needed to not only know his enemy…but to come it was well. The Admiral thought he was cruel? He though he was savage?_

_No, two could play it at them game. _

_And two did._

_And both of them had lost: the Admiral his life, Khan his family._

**…**

"You never told me." Cassie accused. "You never told me you were an experiment."

"What does it matter?" Ze'eva shoots back. "It doesn't change who I am or what I can do. What do my origins matter to you?"

Cassie says nothing.

"Look, I'm not going to turn into a mass murder and destroy a city—no offense." Khan glares at Ze'eva and gives him a crooked apologetic grin and a nervous shrug of her shoulders, "But I'm still me. I'm still that bizarre and social awkward person that makes millions consider homicide as a viable alternative to conversing with me."

Cassie coughs to hide a laugh and Khan can even feel himself fighting off of a smile.

"I know I hurt your feelings or whatever by not trusting you enough to tell you…but even though I help people all the time…I don't exactly expect people to help me, you know? That makes anyone I meet—anyone, ever—incredibly dangerous. If I would have told you and you, being a kid, had told anybody else…I would have died, Cassie. It wasn't a secret I didn't trust you with, it was my life. You learn a lot of things growing up as an experiment and trusting people is definitely something you don't do. Not if you want to survive."

She shoves Cassie playfully to make the mood a little lighter and Cassie shoves her back.

"See that ledge up ahead?" Ze'eva nods in front of them and Cassie nods. "The first one there gets first pick of the food we'll collect to eat later."

"In that case," Khan rushes past them both and races towards the ledge. Ze'eva stumbles when he pushes his shoulder but quickly regains her balance.

"Hey! You're cheating!" Ze'eva complains.

The two run after him and Ze'eva quickly catches up. The run, neck and neck, leaving Cassie behind in their dust. She slows to a stop and laughs at the two of them running to get their first. Gasping, she forces herself back into a jog as they both the ledge—it was a tie.


	40. Chapter 40

**Chapter 40**

The air has turned to ash. Smoke billows into the air, destroying the oxygen and obscuring our sight. Fire jumps up from various huts and we watch sadly from the edge of the canyon as the attacking ships fly away lazily.

"Come on!" Cassie yells. "We need to do something!"

_Do what?_ I wonder. _Chances are, everyone has either perished in the attack or are close enough to death to not count. I have no bandages or medicine of which to speak of—_what exactly _are we going to be able to do to save anyone here? We can barely find enough food and water for ourselves!_

"Ze'eva! Come on!" Cassie urges but I just stare at the desolated village. Once it had been a thriving city where people would travel weeks to get to in order to inspect their wares. Now…now it was nothing more than a smoldering pile of ruins.

"Ze'eva?" She takes a small step towards me and I jerk quickly out of my thoughts.

"Alright." I say with a sigh. "But I doubt we'll be able to do much to help."

I can tell from the look Khan is giving us that he was probably thinking the same thing that I was…but at least we may be able to scrounge up some supplies. Is it wrong to be thinking of our own survival when something so awful has just occurred?

"Let's spread out." I propose. "Cassie you take the part to the left, I'll go to the right."

"And me?" Khan inquires. I think for a minute. I hadn't really considered giving Khan a job to do…right now I'm just happy he didn't try to snap our necks and leave us to die the moment I got us out of the canyon.

"Um…" I try to buy myself some time. "Go with Cassie." That way, if we run into any trouble, she won't get herself killed. Khan and I can hold our own ground. In a fight, Cassie was more like a kitten battling a tsunami than a warrior.

Khan nods at me and the two of them run of to look for any signs of life.

**…**

Within twenty minutes I have managed to locate: three backpacks, large hunks of dried meat, some hardened bread, an assortment of fruit, medical supplies, clothes, blankets, matches, a compass, and six water bottles. All in all, I've scored big. It doesn't take long to fairly divide everything up and put them into the three bags. I lift them up and go in search of my comrades.

**…**

"Hey!" I hear Cassie scream. "I think I found something!"

I break into a run and see her inspecting a crumbled house. And what exactly did you find? Roof tiles? Bricks?

"There's something under here!" She continues.

I close my eyes and listen. Sure enough, I can definitely hear movement.

"Let's move the debris; where's Khan?" I ask.

"What makes you think I know?"

I groan inwardly but decide not to push it. Right now, somebody could be hurt…or there's a monster lying in wait to jump out and devour us the moment we move the rubble.

_Well, we aren't dead yet…better get started._

**…**

We found children.

_This is just wonderful: now we have _more_ mouths to feed. Yay..._

There are two of them: a small boy (around four years old) and a little girl (about six years old). Neither of them are injured, which is good but…now we need to figure out what to do with them. Crazy scientific terrorists are trying to kill us, would it really be a good idea to drag them into this mess, too?

But then again, their city has been destroyed and their loved ones killed.

Either way, they're goners.

"Just leave them." Khan walks up behind me and I flinch.

_Where the heck did he come from?_

"Well, look who finally decided to _show up."_ He narrows his eyes at my tone but I don't apologize. "Where were you?"

"I was scouting out the area." He says looking bored, "And I found this." He throws a radio at me and it nearly smacks me in the head; I think he tried to hit me on purpose. I catch it and throw it to the ground.

_Jerk_.

"And this helps us how, exactly?" I demand. I'm slightly irritated because the stupid thing didn't break. _That stupid, well-made, piece of junk!_

"Communication, what else? We could radio in help."

"But anyone could be listening in. If Meditech hears the transmition they'll come running and we'll be right back where we started," I counter. "That makes it dangerous and if it has a tracker in it, that'll display our location to whoever wishes to see it—it'd be a liability not an asset, Khan."

He raises an eyebrow at me and I shake my head at him before turning to the kids.

"Are either of you injured?" I ask briskly.

"No." The girl says quietly, looking a little daunted by all these strange people. "Are we going to die?"

"No, you'll be fine. Don't worry, okay?" Cassie says gently and I want to smack her.

_How can she possibly know if they'll be alright or not? Who's to say those ships won't return and kill us all where we stand?_

"So, what would you have us do now, oh _fearless leader?"_ Khan growls as he grabs one of the bags from me.

"We'll scout for supplies and any other survivors." I narrow my eyes at him. "And _no _wandering off. This is a very dangerous region. If we _aren't_ careful," I look at Cassie and this time I give_ her_ a hard look, "We _will_ die and no amount of promises or goodwill will change that."

The kids whimper but I refuse to acknowledge them. Instead, I stand and walk away from the group. This day was just getting better and better. We already have a hard enough journey ahead of us without adding more people to our little family. The more we have with us, the harder it will be...but else can we do? In a way, Cassie was right in her feelings for helping the survivors here. It wasn't their fault they had been attacked by the Klingons.

Had the situation been different, I wouldn't have to think twice about saving any of them-I just would have done it.

But this is the hand I was dealt. If there's anyone else alive, we may as well take them with us. After all, Meditech was looking for three missing people. If we found more survivors, we'd be a band of people, not three. With luck, they wouldn't think of checking more into it if they happened to see us from the sky as their ships combed through the area.

**…**

Cassie finds a newborn baby lying in his dead mother's arms.

It screams and cries but seem uninjured. The mother had fled back into her home, the only hut still standing, but had taken a phaser blast to the back. As the life had seeped out of her, she had held the distressed infant close.

She was giving her life for one whose life had just barely begun.

Cassie had picked the baby up carefully and when she looked up at me, she had been crying. Who wouldn't? Even Khan looked slightly distressed by the sight, his eyes glassing over ever so slightly.

"You know, it won't replace the one that was lost," I say softly but Cassie just shrugs sadly.

"I know."

"Okay."

We search a while longer, Khan finds baby formula and diapers for Cassie and I rescue a silver wolf pup from a collapsed and burning wood hut. I frown when I read the name on its tag, and I don't know whether I should laugh or cry.

"What's wrong?" Khan asks, walking up behind me.

"Do you know what its name is?" I ask.

"Does it look like I do?" He counters.

"His name is 'Amichai'." He raises an eyebrow. "It's Hebrew." I explain. "It means 'my people live'." We look around at the destroyed city and the fallen bodies.

"That's ironic." He smirks and takes one look at my astonished face before making his own face go neutral. "Too soon?" He inquires with a tilt of his head and I do a quick face palm.


	41. Chapter 41

**Chapter 41**

We're walking now. Overhead the sun beats unto our heads, making out skin and burn sting. Khan walks stiffly beside me and Cassie and the children bring up the rear. I keep swallowing from thirst but refuse to drink anything from our precious water supply. There's no shade for us to rest in.

The sharp underbrush scratches our legs and sometimes drawls blood.

No one complains.

Not even the children.

"What is your plan?" Khan asks finally. "Where are you taking us?"

In truth, I haven't really thought about it yet. I figured we'd just walk for a while and chance upon a town or city that had descent transportation and get back home…but that isn't exactly a plan, now it is?

It's wishful thinking.

_Curse you, Khan and you're logical questions!_

"I'm working on it." I say casually and then the idea hits me. "We'll travel with the Azure Tribe."

"Are you insane?" Cassie snaps and the baby starts to scream and wail at her tone. "They are a vicious and war oriented tribe! If we travel them—!"

_"__If_ we travel with them," I cut her off quickly, "No one will bother us or try to attack us. There's strength in numbers and we can be easily assimilated in with the tribesmen. The scientists will be looking for three people traveling alone, Cassie: not a whole clan."

Out of the corner of my eye I can see Khan assessing me carefully and a small flicker of praise seems to shine in his eyes; should I be worried that a murderous terrorist is agreeing with me…? Nah. I'm sure it's fine.

"We'll be killed." Cassie objects.

"Remember the Human Vulcan war?" I ask. "Well, this is where I was during a very long duration of that period. I've spent time with these people acting as a traveling medic—they know me; we'll be fine."

"If we aren't_ murdered _in our sleep first." Cassie persists.

"It sounds like a good enough plan." Khan finally says softly. "If it gets too dangerous, we could leave and continue on without them."

He looks at me and his icy blue eyes seem to freeze me to my very core; if he had managed to wound people back at Meditech, then it was quite possible that his collar had malfunctioned…if that was the case, there was nothing stopping him from slaughtering us as well. Oh, boy.

Khan continues to speak: "Ze'eva is right in saying that there is strength in numbers, and it would be a great strategic advantage to us to travel with them for a short time if only to throw Meditech off as to our whereabouts."

_And just what are you planning, old man? _I think. I'm not so sure now if we should continue on with this plan. For some reason, the fact that Khan agrees with me makes me more than a little uncomfortable. But, for the moment, Cassie is placated.

I sigh.

_Well, they'll have supplies that we desperately need like more food, clean and not poisoned water, and medical materials. We'll just have to keep Khan from slaughtering everyone…which is unlikely._

He has a feral look in his eyes and his body is tenses as we like as though he were a tiger ready to spring. Power emanates from his tall, masculine for and I half expect him to either kill us or severely wound someone in the group. His glacier blue eyes scan the surrounding area like a tiger looking for lunch…and I pity the fool who has the misfortune of incurring his violent and merciless wrath.

**…**

That night as we sit in yet another cave, I find myself sewing a pattern into my bag from a sew kit Khan had found in the wreckage of the village from yesterday. The tribesmen will see it and recognize it a traveling medic symbol and (hopefully) not attack us. But, then again, hope never did much for me. If anything, it tended to make things worse—especially if things ended badly.

"Just how well to you know these people?" Khan asks me with narrowed eyes.

Cassie and the others have long since fallen asleep and the wolf pup, Amichai, burrows into my side. It snores ever so slightly and snuggled closer when Khan had spoken.

"I've lived among them for the long part of three years, so…pretty well, I guess." _Why? What are you thinking of doing? Are you going to hurt them?_

"And are they really as bad as she says they are?" He raises and eyebrow gives me a small smirk of silent laughter.

We both know that an entire army of tribesmen could attack him and it'd be unlikely that he'd be injured…or even winded from the battle; whereas every single one of them would inevitable perish by his hand: if they made the mistake of attacking him.

_What's he playing at here? What does he care? _

_Is he worried strategically or is he plotting something? _

"Not at all." I say quickly, "Although, they are often perceived as viscous and brutal whereas in reality they only attack if absolutely necessary. They are ruthless when it comes to the safety of their family, but one could argue that any species could be driven to savagery if and when the lives of their loved ones are in peril." I shrug. "For the most, they're pretty cool. Basically, they're like Native Americans. They hunt and fight with spears and arrows and have a lot of tradition interwoven into their culture, which is both neat and frustrating."

"Because of the lack of progress." He says coolly.

_You have no idea_, I think.

**…**

Khan falls asleep.

And then He's back in hell.

_All around him the scientists cackle as he wobbles weakly and falls to the ground from blood loss over and over again. They had decided to take a 'blood donation' from him today. he growls and roars in frustration which only adds to their satanic euphoria and makes them screech louder at his helplessness and attempts to hold onto his pride._

_His dignity. _

_He can't understand it. He can't understand how they could even dare to taunt him when he could slaughter the lot of them with ease…but then again, he could use this to his advantage. One day, they would let their guard down and then he would strike._

_After all, they were like mere children with a stick and he, a caged tiger. It would only be a matter of time before one of them accidently left the door open and he'd escape and have his vengeance. While their dying agonized screams pealed into the night he'd get both his long awaited revenge as well as his family._

_The guard from the other day moves to kick in in the ribs and he flounders back to the ground, his forehead slamming hard into the cold, rough cement floor. Khan hates them and can't wait until the day he hears the joyful, sickening crunch as his fingers wrap tightly around their head and crush their skull. Again he moves to stand and again the guard sends him sprawling. _

_Eventually, he is able to regain his footing but in his weakened state he is no match for the other man. The Admiral watches the brutal onslaught with gleaming eyes and with __down-turned__lips but he makes no move to stop it. Another guard moves in to attack Khan and soon an entire pack of them are surrounding the fallen man, fists and legs attacking him from every conceivable direction. He curls into a ball and howls in pain, his body tensed. _

_The moment the blows begin to ease he _will _kill every last one of them._

_And he certainly tries._

_He lurches to his feet and lunges for the nearest one but a blow from behind sends him to his knees. Someone grabs a fist full of his hair and jerks his head heavenwards. Before he can break out of their grasp, a needle is shoved into a vein in his throat and he's dragged, kicking and screaming, into unconsciousness._

**…**

A calculated kick to his side makes him jerk awake and he glares instinctively at Ze'eva.

"You were having a bad dream again." She says with a shrug of her shoulders. "You're welcome."

He does not smile.

"Anyone ever tell you that you have problems?" She asks with her head tilted to the side.

He raises an eyebrow at her.

"Well, you do." She says and she squirms slightly under his gaze.

He yawns and leans back against the cave wall, his fingers woven together and resting lightly on the back of his head.

"Am I the one," He says slowly, his voice booming through the small space, "who has problems when you are the one insulting an Augment?" Again he raises an eyebrow.

"Hey, I never claimed I was normal."

"Or intelligent." He adds.

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing." He smirks. "Nothing at all."

"Come at me." She challenges and he rolls his eyes.

"If I attacked you, there wouldn't be anything left to send home to your family." He retorts icily.

"Your bark is worse than your bite." She says before pausing. "I am, of course, not trying to dehumanize you through my use of a metaphor. I was simply trying to get a point across."

_She didn't have to explain herself_, Khan thought.

He understood easily enough how Sector 31 used dehumanization tactics to break their subjects and keep them in line. It was far easier to torture what you considered an animal than to purposely harm a human being.

_What had they done to her to make her think this way? Did they attack her and call her a monster: beating her senseless and letting her bleed out on the cold cement? Did they laugh at her agony or sneered at her when she begged them to let her go home: a pup mewing pitifully for the safety and warmth of its burrow? It's mother?_

"Really now?" Sarcasm drips from his voice as he hides the emotions of sorrow that are stirred up within him from his musings.

"Really." She yawns. "By the way," She yawns again, "It's your turn for sentry duty."

With that, she leans back and falls asleep. He watches her for a few more minutes to make sure she's asleep before stealthily moving to crouch at the lip of the cave to peer out, so far, so good. She shivers and he gently covers her with his jacket that she had managed to scrounge up last night.

They were all still bare foot, including the new additions to their little group, but it shouldn't be too hard to trade for shoes.

"Goodnight," he whispers softly before turning back to the outside world.

_I'll keep you safe_, he thinks. _I promise._


	42. Chapter 42

**Chapter 42**

The warm breath of a horse.

The sweet smell of leather and the tangy scent of grime.

The soft rustle of footsteps.

The silent whine of an arrow being notched and carefully aimed.

"Don't move." Ze'eva says softly, bringing their small group to a halt. "if you do, you die."

Khan gazes coolly about them. "Can you hear them?" He murmurs.

"Why else would I tell everyone to stop?" She says sarcastically. "Nice deduction there, Sherlock." She rolls her eyes. "There's at least three of them; don't make any sudden movements."

"And if I do?" He challenges.

"You'll get an arrow through your kneecap." She says calmly and he glances at her.

"Hm."

"You still want to run at them and scream like a banchee, don't know?" She asks.

"Perhaps." He says and she sighs in frustration.

"Did anyone ever tell you that you have problems?"

"You did: yesterday in fact."

"And what have you learned?"

"That you're obviously delusional." He fights back a smile.

"I don't like you," She complains and she elbows him sharply in the ribs. He elbows her back.

"Girls," Cassie cuts in. "You're both fabulous—why have we stopped moving?"

"Assassins." Khan says calmly and I glare at him.

"They're no assassins," I elbow him again and stomp on his toes. He winces slightly but refuses to yelp in pain. "It's a few warriors from the Azure Tribe and they're a little jumpy—that's all."

"We're going to get shot in the face, aren't we?"

"Must you complain about everything?" I roll my eyes. "We'll be fine—really. Stop freaking out, the children are acting more mature than the two of you!"

"And that makes you the mature one?" Khan raises and eyebrow at me. "Right…"

"Who asked you?" I snap. "Relax!" I turn away from him and start addressing the tribesmen. "It's me!"

"Wolf?" One calls and he rides into view on a pitch black horse.

"Midnight?" I call back. "What are you doing on sentry duty? I thought you were the new operating medic!"

"Nope." He smiles and walks up to me. "Guess I've got what it takes after all." We shake hands.

When he had been younger he had been very sickly Seeing as how he was constantly with their operating medic, they simply signed him up to be the old man's apprentice. Apparently, he was able to change his fate.

"Nice going." I smile back. "These are my associates," I nod to them each in turn as I say their names, "Khan, Cassie, Amichai, and the children whose names escape me…"

"Hello." He shakes hands with all them except Khan. He gives the older man a weary look and nods to him suspiciously. Khan keeps his face neutral and studies the younger man like one would study a particularly interesting beetle.

"In a bit of trouble, huh?" I frown at him. How could he possibly know? "Come on, you show up during an all out war and mysteriously 'just so happen' to pop up again? Wolf, I may not know you well, but I like to think I know you at least that well!" He laughs, putting his hand my shoulder.

"'Wolf'? Is he talking about you Ze'eva?" Cassie gives me a funny look and holds the baby closer to her chest as if afraid I'll suddenly go wild and attack her. Disappointment slices through me.

_Does she really think I'll just go feral? Just like that?_

**…**

Khan watches the three for a minute and turns his attention back to the bumpy landscape. There were at least two or three scouts—where were the others?

"I didn't have a name." Ze'eva shrugs. "My mom never gave me one and neither did the scientists. So, I made one up for myself: I adopted the word 'wolf' to be my temporary title until I found something else."

"And you chose 'Ze'eva'? Just like that?" Cassie sounds hurt and Ze'eva look uncomfortable at her friend's criticism. "You never told me." Cassie frowns. "Not once did you tell me that Ze'eva wasn't your real name…"

_Interesting…_

"Because it wasn't—I _have_ no name, Cassie!" Ze'eva says irritably, "Do we have to have this conversation here? And now of all times? Really, Cassie?"

"Stop it—both of you!" Khan growls and the girls fall silent. Cassie looks afraid of him and backs away a little whereas Ze'eva glares right back at him.

"Why don't you guys come back to camp with me…?" Midnight says in the awkward silence and they all turn to look at him. "You can discuss your situation with our chief."

"Sounds legit," Ze'eva says and Cassie elbows her sharply whispering something about her words not being 'proper'. "Sorry," Ze'eva groans and her voice suddenly turns flat and emotionless: "It sounds fantastic. Thank you, o brave warrior, for extending your graces and allowing us the chance to speak with your o so wonderful ruler. It would take a thousand lifetimes for us to repay this debt to which we owe to you."

Midnight snickers and even Khan can't help but smirk a little at the glare Cassie gives Ze'eva. The woman shrugs her off and coughs to hide a giggle.

"Shall we begin, then?" Ze'eva inquires. "You know…getting kind of dark here, dude."

"Sorry, come on." He rides off the west and three more warriors appear from the underbrush. They talk for a moment before nodding to each other. Midnight motions for the group to follow and they walk their horses slowly so that they could keep up.

"Do you trust him?" Khan purrs quietly and Ze'eva nods.

"He saved my life on no less than five separate occasions." She answers. "I trust him more than I trust you."

Khan raises and eyebrow at her but he couldn't say he blamed her for saying it. If he were her, he wouldn't trust him either: especially around young children.

"Did I offend you? You're kind of…quiet."

"I appreciate the honestly."

"Even if it's brutal?"

"I'd take brutal honesty over lies any day." He says coolly and she nods.

"That makes two of us. But I'm pretty sure that I offended you. Do you need a minute? I can walk away while you cry silently to yourself and we can pretend it never happened, Moses." He shoves her and she laughs.

"Moses?" He inquires.

"Yeah, he's an ancient old guy, right?"

Khan rolls his eyes and walks away.


	43. Chapter 43

**Chapter 43**

The chief embraces Ze'eva and laughs.

"So, our little warrior has finally returned!" He roars happily and the clans people roar and cheer. Ze'eva fidgets uncomfortably under their praise and very slowly inches out of his hug.

"It's nice to see you as well, chief." She says kindly and he can see a hint if mischief twinkling in her eyes, "So, how's the diet going?" She inquires and the chief makes a mock lunge at her.

The two laugh heartily. The man isn't necessarily what one would consider pleasantly obese, however he wasn't exactly starving either.

"And are these your friends?" the chief asks and Ze'eva nods.

"They are." She says in confirmation and Khan can feel the curious gazes of the people around them turn to him and the others. He stands straighter and looks back at them all evenly as though daring them to challenge him.

"It is always good to meet new faces." The chief booms kindly and he moves forward to shake and everyone's hand, even the children. He peers happily at the baby and it giggles upon seeing his face. Cassie smiles wearily. "And any friend of Wolf is a friend of ours." He calls a woman over. "Please, find our guests a place to stay for the night and some food as well." She nods and hurries away.

"And what should we call you?" Cassie asks carefully.

"Just call me chief," he smiles. "I apologize for leaving so early when we are just getting acquainted with one another but I'm afraid I must bid you goodbye, my friends. I hope that you have a very good night and that your stay here is a pleasant one." He nods to them politely and leaves.

**…**

"So…what do you think of him, Khan?" Cassie asks after Ze'eva falls asleep. "Do you really think he's as good a person as he's letting on?"

"Quite possibly." Khan admits, "But it may be best to stay alert—just in case."

To tell the truth, he himself had been asking that question. The chief seemed like a good enough person, but a lot people did at first. It wasn't difficult to mimic normal behavior in order to achieve a means to an end—Khan himself used to do it all the time. If he could do it with ease, who's to say this chief won't? But he won't make the mistake of judging the man too quickly. It'd be better to stay watchful and wait for his true colors to reveal themselves in time.

Cassie nods. "What should we do if something bad happens?"

"Run." He says instantly and Cassie raises a questioning eyebrow at him. "It would be far safer than to attack them; here, they have the advantage with knowing the geographical region as well as their superior numbers. But I doubt your friend would bring us here to travel with them if she deemed them dangerous."

"Okay," She yawns. "Sounds logical." Her eyes begin to droop a little from exhaustion. That's strange, they didn't walk that far today. At most, they only covered about two miles; how can she possibly be this tired?

_Maybe the food was drugged…?_ Khan reasons.

"Get some sleep. I'll take first watch," Khan orders firmly and he turns his attention back to the outside world. All is silent except for the occasional rustle or whine. So far, all is silent. But is this a good silence or one he should worry about?

**…**

They travel with the Azure Tribe for about a week. During this week, Cassie learned how to shoot a bow-and-arrow and the basics of night fighting. Khan stood by and watched with easily contained amusement as Ze'eva showed her how to jab with the blade and how to slice properly. Cassie was a quick learner, but it would be a while until Khan would consider her a threat to an experienced human fighter. They play many games of soccer with a hard leather ball and Ze'eva—although she couldn't score a goal to save her life—is one of the best offensive players he's ever seen. She whizzes past the other players and easily steals the ball easily and passes it expertly to those on her team who in turn, gets them a goal. Khan watches both the game and the tribe's leader quietly from the sidelines and claps stiffly when it is appropriate.

Now, they are sitting around a fire and wait patiently while the women cook and prepare the food. Cassie drawls words in the dirt and Ze'eva says them quietly. The woman beams at Ze'eva and elbows her playful and Ze'eva grins crookedly.

"See? I told you that I was awesome." Ze'eva jokes.

"Oh, yeah, how do you figure that?" Cassie inquires and Khan watches them both with his cold blue eyes.

"I'm Batman." Ze'eva insists and then explains her reasoning, "I lurk in the shadows of society, random people want to kill me, and I have no parents: it's legit, yo."

"Really? And where's the Joker, huh?" Khan groans inwardly. "You can't be Batman without Joker, Ze'eva." Khan knows exactly where this conversation is headed.

"But Khan is my Joker! See? He's even smiling!"

He is not smiling.

"And he's an optimist." Ze'eva continues.

_He was an optimist? Huh, I didn't know that,_ Khan thinks.

"And he's incredibly white."

"You're an awful person; who even says that?" Cassie jokes and Ze'eva groans.

"No, I'm an _awesome_ person." She corrects.

"Because you're Batman?" Khan asks.

"Exactly."

"So, when you call me 'the Joker' are you implying that I look strange?"

"No, I'm implying that you are mentally insane and have a habit of killing large amounts of people in incredibly short amounts of time."

"And that makes me funny? Like a clown?"

"No, it makes you creepy and means that you have serious mental problems. I'd tell you to see a Psychologist but then they'd probably need to see a shrink as well after you talk to them," She says seriously and Khan rolls his eyes.

"Thanks for your unwavering support in my mental health," He says sarcastically.

"Anytime. So," She lowers her voice. "Want to know my secret identity?"

Cassie throws a blanket at her and Ze'eva easily evades it, laughing as she does so.

"Don't you even," Cassie says. "No more Batman references!"

"What? You suck!" Ze'eva quips. This time, she does get hit with a blanket. Khan catches her in a headlock the moment she gets to her feet but he doesn't cut off her oxygen supply. The two wrestle for a minute, but no human can possibly escape the grip of an Augment—

How the heck did she do that?

She got free! What in the world?

He must be losing his edge. Tomorrow, he would need to start training like never before.


	44. Chapter 44

**Chapter 44**

They walk was one large and quivering mass. Ze'eva squirms uncomfortably and quickly moves so that she is on the outside and steers well away from the others. Khan watches her with narrowed blue eyes before turning his attention back to the matter at hand: moving. He picks absently at his shirt and groans inwardly. Yesterday the tribesmen had insisted that they all wear clothes similar to the ones that they themselves wore: grey pants, blue shirts, and black moccasins. Even though the blue makes his eyes pop, he'd much rather wear black,

It looks more mysterious and threatening.

No one else seems to care.

"Yo," Ze'eva risks darting back into the huge traveling crowd to walk beside Khan for a moment. He raises an eyebrow at her.

"If you ask me how my day is going, I will make sure that you do not live to see the end of yours," He threatens darkly and she grins at him happily.

"Try it, I dare you." She moves a few feet away from him just in case he decides to go through with his bluff and he smirks in triumph. "So, what's up?" She asks. "Having fun yet?"

"Does it look like I'm 'having fun'?" His deep baritone voice purrs dangerously.

"Not really, it looks like you're about to rip someone's head off."

"And you decided to come and converse with me? Probably not the wisest move you have ever made."

"Your bark is worse than your bite."

"Would you care to test that theory?" He moves closer so that he towers over her but she doesn't shrink away from him.

"Maybe later, pops." She says cheekily and he considers strangling her. "This thing is weird." She says pointing to the wolf pup—Amichai—that they had found in that desolated village. "It won't leave me alone."

"Must be your magnetic personality." He quips. "Now, I have a question."

"Go ahead and shoot: just don't kill anyone."

He glares at her for a moment and she holds his gaze easily, "what do you know of your mother?"

The question catches her off guard and Ze'eva frowns in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Just tell me about her." He shrugs. He could have sworn he had seen the woman during their short incarceration in Meditech, but it could have simply been a delusion from drugs that they could slipped him. Only one way to find out.

"She was a paramedic and her favorite color was red." Ze'eva shrugs, "She loved animals and loved us…err, not 'us' as in you, and me, and Cassie: 'us' as in our family—um, _my _family," She explains. "Um…that's really it, I guess." She shrugs.

"Is she alive today?" He cuts in quickly.

"No, she died years ago. Why?"

"It doesn't matter. I was just curious." He lies easily.

_It was a hallucination then. Good, that gave him one last thing to worry about._

**…**

"Hey! Do you hear that?" I race forward without waiting for a reply. My long dark hair streams behind me like a banner as I twist and run past people, not once making physical contact. Footsteps chase after me. Without looking, I know that it's Khan.

"Where's the fire?" Cassie yells as I shoot past her; I don't reply.

The sound gets louder, a shrill droning shriek; _how can they _not_ hear this?_

My feet hit the hard shelf of the cliff bottom and I stop right at the edge, my body tense, and my rack ramrod straight as my blue-green eyes engulf the landscape. And then the unthinkable happens: the world turns black.

The _sun _turns off.

_No_ stars shine out of the inky blackness.

_No_ moon smiles at us from above.

Only the darkness.

Only the night.

"Khan!" I shout and my voice sounds barely louder than a whisper as the screams get louder, drowning me out completely.

The cliff is beginning to buckle under my feet as terrified screams pierce the air but I can't hear any cataclysms attacking…but that doesn't mean we're any safer. Out here, terror can kill you just as surely as a monster.

"KHAN!" The ground where I am standing gives away noiselessly.

I can hear my screams as gravity drags me downwards and I plummet into the freezing cold river below. My breath is stolen by the violent waves as they drag me upwards. I claw and kick furiously to no avail. Nothing I do brings me back up the surface with its sweet, sweet oxygen. Bubbles burst by my mouth as I try to scream but the murky blackness swallows the sound.

**…**

Khan freezes where he is at. He can feel people bumping into him in their panic and their terrified howls attacking the heaven's. His heart booms in his chest and a small pang of fear flickers on his chest for a single moment before he quickly extinguishes it.

_No, _he thinks._ Now was not the time for panic: now was time for action._

He pulls a flashlight out his pocket and shouts for silence. Everyone freezes before slowly flocking around him and the small circle of white light that encircles him. He cranes his neck around to look for Ze'eva…but she must have run off in the panic because she's not among the tribesmen. He catches Cassie's eye and nods to her as if to tell her that everything will be alright.

"What's happening?" Cassie calls to him. "Do you know, Khan?"

He shakes his head. "No." He says honesty. "I have never seen anything like this."

"Could it be an eclipse of some kind? Like on Earth?"

"Unlikely."

"Where's Ze'eva?" Cassie yells above them but her voice is swept away by the tide of questions that follow.

"What do we do?"

"Are we going to die?"

"What's happening?"

"SILENCE!" Khan snarls and their words die instantly on their lips.

Again his blue eyes scan the crowd and he finds that the chief had been crushed to death by his own people. Well, at least he had one less person to worry about.

"We are going to keep moving." He orders firmly. "I need someone to take a headcount and figure out who is missing." His eyes catch on a few small trees; this was looking a little more promising, "We are going to make torches to help us see and we are _all_ going to stay together. Is that understood?"

Silence greets his ears and he growls in angrily.

"UNDERSTOOD?!" He bellows loudly and his eyes blaze with irritation.

"YES!" They scream and most of them cower away from him.

"Then get started!" He shouts and they galvanized into action instantly.

Some of the children whimper and cry as they curl into their mothers but Khan takes no notice of them. Where is Ze'eva? She had been right in front of him—where could she have gone? He wanders back up the ledge and looks at the cold water underneath the slick clay shelf…but a large fraction of it has gone.

_Was she on it when it fell?_ He walks closer to the edge and glares at the black water but he doesn't see her._ Could it be possible that she fell in here? If so, what are the chances she survived?_

"Are you okay?" Cassie walks up to him.

Khan turns to look at her. "I'm fine. Have you found Ze'eva?"

"No," She shakes her head slowly. "And Amichai is gone, too."

"The wolf cub?"

"Yeah."

"And the others in our group? The girl and the boy?"

"They're over there with the other kids. Do you think we are going to be okay?"

"We'll be fine." He assured her even though he himself is not so sure.

_What caused this to happen? Could it be possible the Meditech is behind it?_

**…**

The cold cuts down into my bones and I shiver violently. At least I can breathe now. A small shivering form plasters itself to my side and I lift my head weakly: the wolf pup. How in the world did it get here?

"Well," I force myself to crawl to my knees and I pant. "I guess it's just you and me little guy." I fish him up into my arms and start to stumble in what I hope to be is a direction away from the water. The faster the sun cut back on, the better. But, at least I had my backpack. I fish a light on and switch it on and a scream freezes in my throat.

I'm in a Cataclysm den.

And they are all around me.

_Oh, dear God, you have_ got_ to be kidding me!_


	45. Chapter 45

**Hope you like long chapters. Don't forget to review :)**

**Chapter 45**

I am in the daunting presence of _pure evil_.

Pure evil has decided to take a nap break.

_Hm…now, should I be run or laugh?_

I inhale slowly and back away. I'm currently in a small cave that's roughly twenty feet by twenty feet. The monsters sleep stretched out, their chests contracting with each and every breath. I half expect their eyes to open and for them lunge at me.

Gobble me up.

Rip me limb from limb.

…But they don't move. At least, not yet, anyway. Because I'm me and the universe hate me. Isn't it wonderful?

Within minutes I'm outside the cave and jogging as quietly as I can back to the river. If I can cross over to the other side, they won't be able to kill. Here's a Little known fact about Cataclysms: they are deathly afraid of water. The pup whimpers and as the animals inside the cave snarl.

"I hate you." I tell Amichai before racing away.

Loud shrieks follow after me.

I throw the pup in my backpack and leap as high as I can into the arms of a tree and climb upwards. A Cataclysm lunges and nearly catches my heel between it's strong, glistening fangs and I yelp and climb faster. The pup yowls in fear and my horrified heart howls in my chest. It's claws rip at the bark and the tree swings violently from side to side. I hold on for dear life and can feel a scream rising in my chest as my flashlight falls to the ground. One of the monsters leaps up and crushes it in its teeth leaving me in darkness.

They say that, on Earth, being afraid of the dark is a fear reserved only for children.

Adults on that planet must be insane.

The tree swings harder, faster. I scream as the branch I'm holding onto snaps and I fall to the ground. Something in my leg shifts and pain shoots up my leg. I wince but grit my teeth together in an effort to hold back a scream. A stifled moan of agony escapes and my thoughts run a mile a minute.

_If I can't see them then maybe they can't see me. _

_Silence could keep me alive._

_Or be my downfall._

Something's jaws clamp down on the front of my shirt and my backpack flies off as the same creature (a Cataclysm?) slams me hard into what feels like to be a tree. The puppy yelps pitifully as the bag thumps to the ground. I wince and try to push the monster away but it's strong—too strong.

_Dear, God! It's going to eat me alive—isn't it?_

_SOMEONE HELP!_

I can feel their putrid breath against my skin as more surround me and I hold my breath in an attempt not to smell the death and decay that seeps past their deadly jaws. Sharp fangs slice into my arm and a hot liquid begins to race down my fingers. Tears sting my eyes as I kick and flail to no avail.

_I can't get free._

_I'm going to perish without ever saying goodbye to my family._

A bright orange-red light flickers in the distance and I yell.

"Hey! Over here!" The Cataclysm drops me to the ground and I can see it bristling with rage as the lights get closer and stab painfully into its eyes…but it's still a ways off and barely provides enough light for shadows of images to appear.

"Hurry!" They get closer and the Cataclysm steps on my injured leg; I whimper as the pain increases but continue to scream as another Cataclysm lunges forward to take my arm in its powerful teeth. "Help!"

Hopefully luck will be on my side and they will reach me in time.

But I've never had very good luck.

The other Cataclysms snarl and growl, and I tense as Khan explodes into the clearing and begins to attack the huge animals. They scream and howl in surprise. He moves quickly and throws the one closest to me into a tree. It growls and jumps to his feet, but the tribal warriors follow behind him and they scream a fear inducing battle cry as they brandish their make shift torches. Light floods the clearing and the Cataclysms flatten their ears and dart away quickly. Khan moves over to me and I run my fingers lightly down my leg to see the extent of the injury.

The bone is okay.

Nothing is broken.

I sigh with relief.

"Are you injured?" He questions and I stand slowly, testing the weight I put on my leg before shaking my head at him.

"Not seriously." I shiver a little: I'm still soaking wet, which may cause me to be sick, but my arm is already healing.

Within three minutes, the wound is completely gone, leaving a stain of dried blood on my skin. Khan doesn't seem to notice my rapid healing; instead he's turning to the people of the Azure Tribe who stand uncertainly around us.

"Make a fire." Khan orders, "We'll rest here for the night." He puts a firm hand my shoulder and forces me to sit again. I watch Cassie as she sits next to me and nurses the baby with a bottle she had borrowed from one of the women.

"You're getting good at that," I remark. "A real pro."

She blushes at the unexpected praise and I laugh.

"I guess so," She states meekly.

Khan goes over and puts my bag down my feet and we laugh when the puppy wriggles free and curls snugly into my side, his fur plastered down from the river water (seriously?! How did he wind up with me?). I pull him up into my arms and hold him like a baby and Khan smirks at me.

"That may just be why it never leaves your side," He says softly.

I lean back against the tree and close my eyes, relishing the warmth from our combined body heat, the blanket and the fire. Very slowly, the noises begin to blur and fade. Khan covers me with a blanket and the ground shifts a little when he sits beside me.

"Goodnight." He murmurs but I'm too tired to answer him.

**…**

_I remember being scared. When the Human Vulcan war started, we were uprooted from our home. This is before Zero had joined our little family…this is when I had decided to run. We had walked for days across the windblown fields before finally coming across the group of people who were tall and intimidating. _

_Their ruler walks up to me and I open my mouth to speak. _

_But my vision blurs. _

_Before I know it, I'm collapsing face-down in the red dirt. People shout in worry and I can hear my little brother starts to cry. When I wake up, I am in a hut on top of a bunch of fur blankets with a cool rag pressed lightly to my forehead. The woman attending me coos gently and helps me to eat some broth._

_"__You will be okay," She whispers. "Go to sleep now. Rest." _

_My eyes flutter shut. The next day the leader walks in with his spine perfectly straight and pride radiating off of his form. His sharp brown eyes analyze the room and rest on me. His long black braid swishes from side to side as he walks towards me and sits down,_

_"__How are you feeling?" He asks without emotion and I blink at him._

_"__I'm fine." I try to sit up but he pushes me back down._

_"__You need your rest." The man says. "You were very close to starving. Where is your family?"_

_"__Gone." My eyes are wide and scared and I think he notices. _

Is he dangerous? Will he send us away to die or will he kill us himself? People don't like Vulcans right now and you can tell Eli is one immediately from his eyebrows and ears. I can hide my ears with my hair…so maybe they don't know yet. I can grab him and run.

_"__I am sorry." He squeezes my shoulder in sympathy his eyes softening with empathy. "What is your name?"_

_"__I don't know." I shrug. _

_"__Do you not have one?"_

_"__Yes." I say softly, my voice barely audible and his sharp eyes soften a little more. "I have no name."_

_"__Then, I shall call you 'Wolf,'" He declares suddenly. "You are as intelligent one and walked as quietly through the trees as a wolf would have done." He smiles a little, his teeth blindingly white. "I didn't know you were even there until you were right in front of me; this is a feat no one has ever managed to accomplish."_

_"__What is your name?"_

_He smiles a little and I'm not longer afraid of him. This is someone I can trust. Someone I can rely on to help my when I need it. We don't need to run; we won't need to run ever again._

_"__You may call me 'chief,' little Wolf."_

**…**

Khan's eyes open and he freezes. There's a weight pressed into his side. He cranes his neck and sees Ze'eva leaning against him breathing slowly in and out. Her eyebrows are turned down while she sleeps and pup is now resting across her knee—weird. Khan doesn't push her away. He sighs quietly and sits completely still while he waits for her to wake up.

Cassie laughs quietly but masks it with a cough when he turns to glare at her.

**…**

_Many weeks later I'm racing through the trees with a bow and arrow and the others youths cheer as we run. They're going to teach me how to warrior and a hunter from dawn to noon and from noon to dusk, I will train to be a medic. Eli is in the camp with the other small children, but I will take him out later, when everyone else is sleeping, and start teaching him the art of knife fighting and throwing. When he gets that down, I'll teach him how to use the bow. _

_A notch my arrow and take careful aim at a large turkey. The arrow swishes as it springs forward and the bird falls to the ground, dead. When we return the tribe laughs and cheers at our catch and our instructors smile at us and nod proudly. For the first time in weeks, I find myself returning their smiles._

_I am a warrior._

_I belong._

_The chief orders that we do a grand feast and on that day, Eli and I are accepted into the tribe as one of their own. He lays a weathered hand on each of our shoulders and the tribesmen chant our names. _

_"__Wolf! Eli! WOLF! ELI!" The Cataclysms roar and growl into the darkness but they can't harm us when we are gathered this close to the safety of the pulsating red light from the bon fires. The dancers twirl and leap and the drummers pound out a steady rhythm. Flutes and cymbals spin around us in the soothing melody._

_"__Now," chief says silently, "You are one of us."_

**…**

I blink my eyes open and yawn.

"Took you long enough," Khan growls and I sit up quickly and look at him.

"Um…sorry?"

"Think nothing of it." He stands rigidly and brushes the dirt off of his clothes.

"We are going to continue going north," My friend, Midnight, informs me as Khan helps me to my feet. I flinch slightly when he takes my hand in his to pull me up, his fingers curl around my palm and I tense in preparation for the bones to snap and for the pain to jolt through my system: to my great relief, nothing breaks. He releases my hand and I exhale with relief.

Midnight continues: "Will you be coming with us? I'm the new chief…I could always use an adviser," He shrugs sheepishly. _What happened to the old chief…? He must have died when the sun turned off. Poor guy._

"No." I say slowly. "Thank you for the offer…but I need to get home, Midnight."

He smiles at me, "We're going to miss you."

We shake hands, "But I'll be back." I return his smile. "You can't get rid of me that easy, and you better watch your back; the next time you see me, I'm going to completely destroy your hunting record." He throws his head back and laughs heartily in response before walking away.

"You guys coming?" I ask the girl and boy we had found and they shake their heads.

"We'll stay here."

"Good luck," I gesture to them. "And stay safe."

They nod back.

**…**

"So, where are we?" Cassie asks. She looks around the abandoned town warily.

"Dead Hope." I say and her eyes widen.

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Dead Hope was the very first colony on our planet from Earth." I explain. "It used to be a thriving town filled with people. Fear does a lot of things to people and it's very good and driving wedges between them…but it united these people."

"But then something went wrong." Khan states emotionlessly as his blue eyes roam over the empty streets and decaying homes.

"Earth went wrong." I shrug. "When the Eugenic wars ended, so did the Earth's support of our civilization. They left their own people to die. In turn, the people split into twelve different tribes and went their own ways, leaving this place to rot like their hope had. For a whole century after the Eugenics they lived like primal people until the scientists came back and brought electricity with them. Some of us moved into the cities they built for us and some of us didn't." Like the Azure Tribe; they didn't trust Earth's sudden change of heart.

But every night after they had abandoned Dead Hope, every single person from every single tribe would turn their eyes to sky and look for the small blue dot that was Earth and silently plead for their people to take them back and save their families. They'd cower in the dust and flee at every unexpected sound before slowly adapting to the harsh environment.

"Come, on. I know where we can stay!" I say suddenly and I break into a sprint. Khan calls my name and Cassie laughs, knowing that I won't stop moving until I reach my destination.


	46. Chapter 46

**Hope you like suspense. PLEASE review.**

**Chapter 46**

They run after me and I shoot quickly into a huge marble two-story building and grin. The furniture is rich and elaborate. This place may look like a house on the outside, but it's a lie: it's actually a palace.

A castle.

"Whoa," Cassie breaths and the baby hiccups. "What is this place?"

The air is significantly colder in here and our breath frosts a little as the temperature outside continues to drop rapidly. Khan looks around the place with barely concealed suspicion but I can tell that he, too, thinks this place is more than impressive.

"This is where the leader lived." I inform them as I look around at the huge walls, the large, golden, spiraling staircase. "His name was Moses Snider. He fought politically for years with Earth to persuade them to come back and save his people."

"But they didn't." Khan's voice is cold and I wince inwardly. He's probably thinking about his family and what they had suffered at the hands of Star Fleet and how they had been used against him.

"No…but this place is pretty awesome." I say slowly and his eyes burn into mine; he's still irritated. "I like the architecture and its deep historic roots to our—err, Cassie's and my—society..." I shrug a little. "And there are all kinds of treasures and stuff here. It's pretty interesting…"

"Is this one of the places you lived? You know…during the war?" Cassie asks and I nod.

"Yep. I lived here for a whole month; snazzy, right?" I smile at them but neither says anything. Well, at least they aren't trying to kill me.

**…**

Everyone picks a room upstairs because 'heat rises' or so Khan claims. I don't know. Either way, it still feels cold. I pace around me room restlessly. Cassie is in her room, singing softly to the baby (Luke) to get him to go to sleep and Amichai is watching me quietly from the doorway. He yawns and stretches, opening his mouth wide and I chuckle at him.

**…**

"What are you doing?" Khan walks into Ze'eva's room and cranes his neck up to see her high up in the rafter beams.

"I heard a noise." She explains as she begins her slow descent.

"Like what?" His senses immediately begin to try to search out what she could have heard and she flinches. Outside a loud explosion throws up dirt and Khan quickly puts himself between Ze'eva and the noise. When it fades, she grabs him by the sleave, plucks Amichai up, and races towards Cassie's room.

The baby is screaming.

"What's going on?" Cassie yells and white dust from the roof coats their hair and more explosions shake the ground. "What's happening?"

"They must have caught up!" Khan calls back to her.

"So, what do we do?" Cassie looks at Ze'eva but the woman simply shrugs.

Khan runs away from them screaming, "Stay here!"

**…**

"What should we do?" Cassie turns to me, "We can't just stay here!"

I swallow, my heart pounding wildly in my chest. "Don't worry," I yell back at her. "We'll be fine." _Khan will figure something out to get us out of this mess. Unless he's abandoning us, but he wouldn't do that, would he?_

_…__He would. _

_He really would._

_He's fire, and rage, and war. He's the darkness that encompasses the human soul and the evil that infects our society. He is rage embodied and he cares only for his people, his fellow Augments. He is a survivor and he would do anything to live and anything to protect those he cares about—those he deems superior._

_And that's not us._

_We're collateral damage._

_Our deaths would be a tragedy, sure, but he wouldn't care. We aren't his family. We aren't his people. Heck, we probably aren't even friends. Khan has no reason to risk his life for me or for Cassie. If we died…why would he care? With my death would come his freedom. I'm the one who tells him what he's supposed to do and I will be the one to say when he has been truly rehabilitated and allowed to go free. If I die, what's to stop him from stealing his own salvation? He has no electrical collar on any more to bend him to my will and we're close enough now to society for him to escape._

_He doesn't need us, not anymore. I've practically gotten us home._

_I'm not longer an asset._

_I'm a liability._

I don't tell Cassie any of this instead I say: "Follow me." I tug on her arm and she looks at me with wide eyes and, for a minute, I can see the girl she used to be: thin, scared, and naïve.

"Where are we going?" Another explosion hits, this one throwing us to our knees. I cough and haul her back to her feet.

"To get some weapons! I'm not going down without a fight" I scream and fire catches on the roof.

Tongues of flame jump down onto the hard wooden floor and soon, we're surrounded. Amichai howls with fear and wriggles violently in my grasp and thick putrid smoke burns its way down my lungs, my mouth, and my nose. The baby wails and screams and Cassie cowers away from the heat. It doesn't bother me as much; I am part Vulcan after all, and Vulcan's are relatively heat resistant.

But this is what bothers me: _We're going to _burn_ alive! He's going to leave us here to roast! How could he do that? How could he be so _cruel_, so _savage_? If he's going to leave us to die, the least he could do was to ensure a fast death._

_Not a slow one._

_Not one like this._

The house shudders and more dust falls. Cassie collapases to the ground; I drag her back up.

"Come on!" I shout. "Run!"

A black of smoke obscures our vision and Cassie coughs violently to keep the noxious gas out of her lungs, but mine have already gotten used to it and are filtering it out easily. If it gets any worse, she, Amichai, and the baby will suffocate.

If we don't all burn first. I drag Cassie onto the bottom floor and rush quickly into the kitchen to pull out my set of throwing knives and grab four phasers. Stuffing three of the phasers in my bag, I push the other one (already set to Stun) into Cassie's shaking hands. Again the house jerks and trembles and I duck, half expecting the roof to cave in.

If we leave the house, we'll be shot down for sure.

But if we stay…either way, we're goners.

_Come on, Khan! Where are you?_

_Please, don't leave us._

**…**

Amichai's eyes are fluttering and the baby has stopped crying, but I don't think either are conscious. Cassie's steps are heavy and mechanical and I keep expecting her to drop to the ground and be buried by the suffocating black smoke and swallowed by the flames. But, I don't allow her stop. I force her feet to move and lead her over to the wall, push Amichai into her shaking arms, and force the three of them next to the wall where sweet, sweet, oxygen is flowing in through a large crack in the wall. I sit down on the ground, putting myself between them and the fire and I tense as I wait for the red fingers of heat to leap on me and send white hot flashes of pure agony through my body.

_Khan, Where are you?_

Another explosion, this time followed by pained screams. I have no idea what's going on out there, but they have just bombed their own people. _Serves you right,_ I think.

"Are we going to die here?" Cassie coughs and my heart clenches. Quite possible, I want to say, but I force the words to stick in my throat. Right now, hope is all we have, and I refuse to take that away from her.

"No," I say and my throat burns as the heat sizzles down into my lungs. "He'll be back." _Maybe. If he hasn't left us to die, he just might return. And find our bodies._ "You'll see. He'll return and we'll okay. Don't worry… everything is going to be okay." But it won't. I just know it won't.

Khan is a solder. He knows when there's a time to fight and when the battle is lost before it had even been initiated. He wouldn't have stayed—not if he was smart—and you can say anything you want about him but one simple fact will always remain: he is absolutely brilliant. Why else would Star Fleet seek to exploit his intellect, his mind?

There is no hope.

There is no redemption.

Not for us.

Cassie knows this, but she's hanging onto a very slim thread of hope…one that I've seen broken so many times before. I've seen the devastating effects that hopelessness has one people, the way it burns them up from the inside out until there's nothing left. I don't want to be the one who lights that cruel and merciless flame. Let her hope.

Why did he have to leave?

With every moment that goes by wasted, is another mountain of strength gained by this hellish fire. The least he could have done was to tell us that he abandoning us to our cruel fate. Then, at least, we could have had a chance of escape. But now? Now, we're trapped. I'd rather burn than to let them catch me and run more test. Break more bones. Cause more anguish.

"ZE'EVA!" Cassie screams as the roof caves and we huddle close to the wall as the rubble rains down around us. I close my eyes and together we scream, our voices intertwining in the darkness.

A final howl of defiance at a cold and uncaring world.


	47. Chapter 47

**Chapter 47**

The fire cackles and laughs. My sensitive ears can pick up the sounds of the smoke being gently brushed away by a soft and soothing breeze and I can small the sharp sting of ice as the first snows begin to twinkle downwards from the heaven's: another nail in our cold, collective coffin. A light red mist slowly oozes through the air but the gas doesn't burn my lungs or seem to inflict pain of any kind. It must not affect me.

I flinch as I move and look around. The house has completely collapsed and a small beam of orange light flickers above us: escape. Cassie's breaths come slow and deep but, as far as I can tell, we're all still alive.

But how do we get out?

"Ze'eva…" Cassie murmurs and I swivel my head towards her. "What happened…?"

I shake my head, "I don't know, but I think they're gone." There's no sound save for the wind. The solders must have seen the house cave in and decided to flee. Right now, they're probably reveling in their victory and Khan is a thousand miles away, already planning his next move.

How many will die this time?

Hundreds? Thousands? Millions?

"Can you stand?" I snap out of reveries and slowly rise to my feet. "Cassie?" I repeat and she groans, "Can you get up? We need to leave, come on." I grab her arm and slowly pull her to her feet. The baby grunts in irritation but doesn't scream. I scoop Amichai up off the ground and slip him into my backpack. "We're going to climb, now. Can you manage that on your own or will you need assistance?"

She sags against the wall like a boneless bag of feathers. "Did he ever come back?" She asks, her eyes still shut. "Did he save us?"

I say nothing for a minute and stare at me feet. "No." I say and my throat feels like it's plugged with cotton and my tongue feels as if it's been mangled. "No, he didn't."

"In that case," A deep baritone voice purrs, the sounds echoing throughout our narrow chasm, "Perhaps I should leave."

"Khan!" Cassie cheers and I've never seen someone look so happy, but for some reason, I can't join in in her wild euphoria and dismiss logic entirely. _Something is wrong here. People don't do this. People aren't kind or caring, and he had no reason to care about either of , what's he playing at? _

"You came back," I state tonelessly. Inside my heart is racing, forcing ice the bulldoze through my veins. Cold frozen fingers race down my back and arms and I narrow my eyes back up at him; his narrow upon catching mine—upon seeing the suspicion flickering within the blue-green orbs. _Why would he do that? Why would he come back and save us?_

"I always come back for what's mine." He answers and he throws a rope down before I could get the chance to ponder at the meaning. "Tie this around yourselves and I'll pull you up." I grab the end of the rope and quickly wrap it around Cassie and fasten it securely.

"Alright, it's all you, Khan. She's ready." I step back out of the way as he slowly pulls Cassie to the top and throws the end out to me.

"It's your turn, now: grab the rope." He says and I hesitate a second before grabbing it and twisting it around my waist. Amichai wriggles happily inside my bag and I shift as though to warn him to stay still; I don't want him to fall out when he pulls us up. Within minutes, I'm back on solid ground and he raises an eyebrow at me. "You don't trust me." It's not a question.

"I don't trust a lot of people and I'm suspicious of your intentions," I reply truthfully.

"You don't think I've changed." He crosses his arms in front of his chest and dares me to challenge his statement; I don't.

"I think everyone is capable of evil and I haven't known you long enough to even begin trusting you," _especially with my life_, I think. "You told us to stay in our current location and we had naturally assumed that you would return shortly—and it did not appear that you were going too." I shrug. "Am I missing anything?"

He scowls. "I saved your life. Have you missed that."

"You didn't save anyone. We would have gotten out on our own eventually," I take a step closer to him, "And I don't care what you think, _pal:_ I'm not _yours_. In fact, I'm not _your _anything," I growl. "I don't belong to you; I'm not mindless dog!"

His eyes widen slightly in surprise at my boldness and sudden ferocity and I take a quick breath to help smother the anger that ignited me from within: it sinks below the surface but I know that it will only be a matter of time before it decided to bubble back up.

Cassie looks a little scared and she holds the baby closer to her chest. I sigh.

"Sorry," I grind out before backing away from him slowly like one would an angry grizzly. "Perhaps it'd be best if we kept moving."

Without another word, I turn on my heel and begin to once again tread homewards. The others follow after me. It takes me a while to notice: the darkness is starting to fade away. Now, instead of seeing a solid veil of black, I'm greeted by a grayish fog, sort of like the lighting during that late evening where it's not quite dark but not quite light either. It's going away, but caused it in the first place?

**…**

"I didn't mean to offend you." Khan says finally.

"Forget it."

"No, really. I'm…sorry." It's clear to hear that he's not used to apologizing but I don't want to hear anything he has to stay. All I want is to get home, get something to eat, and sleep for no less than a month.

"Really, it's cool." I brush him off.

"Is it?" His voice is hard like still. "Is it 'cool,' Ze'eva?"

"What happened earlier? When you left?" I switch subjects quickly. He notices and raises an eyebrow but chooses not to call me out on it. "Anything of great significance occur?"

"No, we were merely caught in a skirmish: a random Klingon patrol versus a small group of Star Fleet officers." He shrugs indifferently, "The officers won."

"Why did you come back? You could have escaped."

I'm irritated but I don't know why. For some reason, all I want to do is punch him in the face and make him scream. I want my fist to connect with his nose and feel the bone crunch satisfyingly beneath my fingers and to watch his crimson lifeblood flow down his chin. I make my hands into fists but don't attack.

But I want to. I really, _really _want to.

"And gone _where_ exactly?" He counters, his voice low, and dangerous, and angry. _"Earth?"_ He sneers and leans in close and his hot breath snakes across my face. I fight the urge to vomit on his shoes and to stomp on his feet until every single one of his toes shatter into thousands irreparable little pieces.

"Sure," I shove him away from me and he allows himself to be moved. "Why not?" I growl as I fight against the urge to jump for his throat and strangle the very air from his lungs. _Let's see just how superior he is when he's gasping for air!_ I snarl internally. _Wait a mine…what is wrong with me? Why am I feeling this way? _"It's not like you committed an act of mass murder or anything. It's not like you tried to kill my sister! It's not like you put her in the hospital or thousands of innocent people prematurely into their graves, right?"

My mind is racing a thousand miles an hour and my vision is starting to get white spots. The rage I pushed away is surging up again to make yet another reappearance and this time, I can't force the powerful tide down. My bag slides off my shoulders and Amichai gives an indignant yelp when it thuds to the ground. I take a step forward so that our bodies are inches apart and I can feel his body heat seeping through my thin jacket. My eyes are stabbing into his in a silent: he doesn't back away or move to attack.

He's confused by my words but his face is a blank canvas. His eyes burn with an angry intensity that I've never seen before: It's almost as if his eyes were burning ice. His hands twitch as though they were itching for battle and to silence the insolent worm that dares to challenge a ravenous hawk.

I don't back down and I don't why.

"It's not like you would _ever _do something like that, right?" My words are coming fast and clipped, almost at a hysterical pace and my vision swims and blurs.

I feel lightheaded and when Khan pushes me lightly away from him in irritation, I drop backwards: the white spots in my vision are now completely dominating what I see. My spine slams into the short blue grass and my head snaps back like a heavy rock. When I try to stand, I find myself sinking right back to the ground before even raising myself to my shoulders. Pain flickers through my body and my eyes fly shut as exhaustion echoes through my frame and slices through my veins.

"Ze'eva!" Cassie yells and someone falls beside me to take my pulse and shake my shoulder. But I can't respond. "What did you do? You hurt her!" She accuses loudly, hysterically. Baby Luke cries: his squeals are hoarse and grated.

"I did not push her hard enough to inflict this amount of damage." He responds coolly and I feel his fingers press lightly into my throat, "But your friend is still alive." He gathers me into his arms and my head rests lightly on his chest and his heart booms loudly within his chest. "Come, we need to get her to a hospital. I trust you know the way from here?"

"Yeah, it's only a two days journey but there are an a few old Earth vehicles around that corner. If you could fix one, it'd only take a few hours to arrive."

**…**

I drop in and out of consciousness but not once can I make myself move. Cassie is crying and I can hear Khan working furiously on the vehicle that I must now be lying in the backseat of. Something fluffy and light rests on my chest and a warm little tongue flicks occasionally across my nose. But I can't move. Eventually, I hear the clanking stop and know that the repairs are done. Someone sweeps my sleeve back from my arm to better examine my wrist and a large hand holds my arm lightly with a feather light grip: Khan.

"What is that black stuff? The stuff on her veins?"

"Poison." He says softly and he puts my arm back down on the seat with a surprising amount gentleness that I didn't think he was capable of possessing. "I've seen it before; one of the symptoms is heightened aggravation."

"Well, that explains her behavior earlier." Cassie says softly. "Will she be okay?"

"I don't know." I hear him shift in the seat and car coughs feebly to life. "Very few Augments have ever survived this ordeal: only the strongest among us."


	48. Chapter 48

**Chapter 48**

My head is swimming. My mind is wafting in and out of consciousness like the wind dancing through the trees: wildly, unpredictably, gracefully. My body is leaping chaotically from burning to freezing and I almost ask them to turn around and throw me back into the burning house: it'd be more merciful.

But I still can't move.

And consequently, I can't speak either.

I catch small snatches of conversation but the moment my mind latches onto a small portion of information, it slips out of my reach to be gone swallowed forever by the black abyss of nothingness. Someone puts a wet rag on my forehead in what I assume to be in an effort to help soothe this raging fever away, but it doesn't soothe me, it burns. They may as well have drenched the rag with gasoline and ignited it for all the good it does. I draw in a shallow breath and welcome the blackness that envelops me like a long lost friend.

_Oh, sweet, sweet oblivion. Where hast thou been?_

**…**

"Her fever is rising." Cassie says and my world spins crazily as if I were trapped on the merry-go-round from hell.

"I'm driving as fast as I can." Khan growls in false anger but inwardly he's panicking almost as much as Cassie is. This was serious

"There has to be something else we could do." She pleads.

"There isn't." His voice holds no room for argument.

In theory, he knew, if he were to give her a blood transfusion, his palates and rapid regenerative abilities could help her but the physical toll it would take on her body could wind up kill her before wiping enough of the poison from her system. What she needed was an IV and lots of fluids and hopefully, that will do the trick.

But hope has done little for Augments besides letting them down over and over again.

**…**

_"__Brain-dead."_

_A hand swipes across my cheek and I'm thrown to the ground._

_"__Don't you know anything?" The Man sneers. "Hybrids don't learn—you are incapable of learning anything of importance."_

_"__Like cruelty?" I shoot back. "Like murder?" I jump to my feet and he kicks me squarely in the chest, sending me flying into a wall._

_"__And, if you continue with this line of action, then you will know death and pain, as well." He threatens and I wince visibly. His lips curl into a predatory smile. "You will not win. In the end, you will come to know the fate of every single experiment we have created: death."_

Murderer,_ I think as he saunters away. _One day, you'll pay for your crimes.

**…**

"Khan, I don't think she's breathing." Cassie says and he slams on the breaks and whips around before glaring at her.

"She is—faintly." He stomps on the gas and the vehicle shudders forward into a gallop.

"Will we get there in time?" She asks, her eyes are wide and scared like a child's. "Will they save her, Khan?"

"I don't know."

"But you have to know!" She starts to cry and he puts up an emotional wall between him and her in that very instant. Sentiment will not save the woman; if anything, it will smother her already vanishing life into oblivion. If she was to live, he needed to get her to a hospital.

And he needed to get her there yesterday.

They may already be too late.

**…**

_"__Who are you?" _

_I whip around to see a small girl watching me curiously: she's not an experiment. She's human. My heart freezes and liquid terror races through me._

_"__I'm…um…" I stammer. "Who are you?" I growl with false bravado and take a threatening step forward. Blood flows from my nose and drips from my chin. The Man had decided to delegate punishment for my words from earlier. But I'm alive, which is more than I can say for most._

_"__I'm Cassie." She says happily. "And I've never seen you before; are you new here?"_

_"__No."_

_"__Then why aren't you in school?"_

_"__I'm not allowed." I say simply. Experiments are considered to stupid to bother teaching. If we so much as step into a learning institution, Sector 31 will blow up the entire building with no questions asked._

_"__What do you mean?"_

_"__I'm homeschooled," I lie. If she's human then she's dangerous. I've seen enough of human nature through the scientists and their endless games. If she knew what I was, she'd want me dead and I have enough to worry about right now._

_"__Don't you get lonely?" She looks sad as if she actually cares, but I know what it is—it's a lie. She's trying to lure me in with a false sense of security before she puts a gun to my head and pulls the trigger. I'm not falling for that again._

_"__No, I never get lonely," I lie. "I don't need anyone and I don't need your sympathy!" I spit. She doesn't cower away._

_"__You're hurt," Concern washes over her and I fight the urge to flinch as she walks up and dabs my face with a napkin that she fished out of her pocket. "There." She says with a smile. "One day, I'm going to be a nurse and I'll help people like you all the time." I roll my eyes at her. Right, a human help an experiment? Not in my lifetime, chick. "So, what are you going to be when you grow up?"_

_"__Dead," I say before breaking into a run and racing away from her._

**…**

Their town looms into view and Cassie whoops. They were almost there. The baby whines softly from its blanket and Amichai growls at the sudden noise. Khan releases a breath he hadn't realized that he'd been holding. They were almost there. Just twenty more minutes. She just had to survive for twenty more minutes and they'd have help.

_Hang in there,_ he thinks_. We're almost there._

**…**

_I see her again the next day and I hide in the thick blue underbeath, the white soil plastering itself to my knees. She hasn't seen me. I hope. For hours, neither of us moves. Eventually, she stands and there's a large basket of food._

_"__It's all yours!" She shouts. "I thought it'd be a peace offering and we could be, you know…friends!" I don't trust her words. She's a serpent in disguise: another vile test created by the scientists. That has to be it. No one would dare care for creatures such as us. "This is yours!" She continues but I know that she has no idea whether or not I'm even in the forest, let alone hearing range._

_When she leaves, I walk slowly to the river's edge to examine the contents of the basket before kicking the entire thing back into the water. I don't need their poison; I'd rather starve than to take this back to my family. We may not have any food but at least I can trust what little we have to not kill us._

**…**

Alieth, the small Vulcan doctor who had been put in charge of Khan's health the first few weeks he'd been at the SAR, runs outside at the sound of rapid honking. She takes one look at their faces and jumps into action.

"You, grab a gurney! Stat!" She shouts. "You two," she calls to Khan and Cassie, "Stay in the waiting room; we'll update you soon as possible."

Dr. McCoy walks down the hallway in preparation for calling it a day and getting a much needed rest when he sees Alieth, the Vulcan doctor, racing a very pale Ze'eva into the ER.

"It never ends, does it?" He asks wearily before walking briskly after them.

**…**

_I'm at the river's edge with my fishing pole stuck in the dirt, the string snaking into the murky water. Soon, I'll have dinner: if I'm lucky. And I'm never lucky. A twig snaps and I whirl around, a knife flying to the tips of my fingers as I ready myself to throw._

_"__Hi!"_

_Oh, it's that girl from the other day._

_"__Hello." I respond cautiously. "You do realize, of course, that I nearly impaled you, right?"_

_"__Nah, I bet you can't hit squat with that thing." She dares and I narrow my eyes._

_"__Oh, really? And do you want to find out just how well I can throw?"_

_She went home that day with a bleeding ear—the blade had barely nicked the skin and caused a small bit of blood to trickle down her face. She came back the next day and the next. Little by little, I got to know this stubborn 'doctor'. _

_"__What do you want to be when you grow up?" She asks about a week or so later. She sits on a large flat rock by the water's side and the murky liquid gurgled behind her. I lean lightly against a tree with my arms crossed over my chest as I regard her. By now, I now longer think that she's a threat sent by the White Coats to end me. _

_That doesn't make her any less dangerous._

_"__Honestly?" I ask. _

_"__Yeah, honestly."_

_"__Alive." I say softly. "I want to be alive." I'm quiet. "You know, one day, you're going to be the death of me," I joke and we both smile a little. _

Oh how true those words really were. Had Cassie not been at the Dead Hope mansion, I never would have stayed in that house. I would have taken my chances with the bullets and explosions and the gas would never have made its way into my lungs.

**…**

McCoy steps outside and is instantly mobbed by Cassie.

"How is she?" Cassie asks after several hours of waiting. During their wait, she had somehow maneuvered a sleeping baby Luke into Khan's arms and fell asleep with her head on Khan's shoulder. He had entertained the idea of throwing her down the garbage chute before quickly dismissing the thought entirely. Had he done that, he'd be stuck with the infant for sure. Evil though he was, he wasn't going to leave a baby alone in a hospital waiting room. So, the moment he heard McCoy's approaching footsteps, he briskly shook her awake and pushed the warm, snoring bundle back at her.

"She's stable, for now. For a while, it was almost like we were trying to make the Titanic float." He rolled his eyes. "But she's doing better. Her heart stopped twice but I don't think there'll be any lasting damaging. Alieth is getting her moved into a room for observation; she'll probably be here for about a week or so."

"Was she considered dead if her heart stopped?"

"Technically." He admits with a shrug. "But it was nothing that I couldn't handle. You should have seen Jim after that little incident with the warp core when he decided to realign it manually." He smiles dryly and catches Khan's eye.

"Is she awake yet?" Khan asks calmly and the doctor shakes his head.

"No, but I think your friend will be alright. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to confer with the sacred fairy of slumber." He says sarcastically before yawning and walking away.


	49. Chapter 49

**Chapter 49**

He's pacing back and forth. Alieth took Cassie and the baby away hours ago to give both of them a physical. The young Vulcan medic took one look at Khan and the glare he was giving her and decided not to do the same for him. However, she got blood samples from all three to check to make sure they weren't harboring any trace amounts in the blood and had yet to have a reaction.

They weren't.

Humans weren't affected by it and Khan was completely immune even though several members of his crew were not. Amichai is sitting in a chair and watches Khan with droopy, golden eyes and whine at him. Khan pauses in his silent march to look at the pup. It whines again. He picks it up and examines it.

"What's wrong this thing," He murmurs as its tongue flicks out to lick his nose. Khan's eyes narrow.

"It may be logical to assume that the creature needs to relieve itself," Alieth says from the doorway of the medbay. If Khan didn't know any better, he'd say she was amused. "However, I am not a Veterinarian; so, this is room for considerable error."

Khan shrugs and passes the pup into the arms of a child walking past him, "Take that outside for me." He orders before stalking into the medbay to check on Ze'eva.

She's still unconscious.

But alive.

**…**

"Greetings, Mr. Singh." Spock says as he walks slowly into the room.

"What are you doing here, Mr. Spock?" Khan growls.

"I'm here to make sure that you are outfitted with a new collar."

"You're joking."

"You forget that I am Vulcan: Vulcans do not make jokes. Many humans would even venture to say that we are incapable of humor."

"Trust me, Spock." Kirk walks up behind his first officer and slaps him on the shoulder. "You are."

"_Captain_," Khan spits. "To what do I owe the _pleasure_?"

"Turns out, we're going to be here longer than we had originally anticipated, and I need to speak with Ze'eva about some urgent matters."

"She is not conscious yet, Captain." Spock jumps in and Kirk glares at him before signing.

"I'm well aware of that, Spock." Kirk rolls his eyes at Spock and shakes his head. "Well, I can take over for you for a while as they put a new collar on." Kirk shrugs. "I'll tell you if anything happens."

Khan watches Kirk carefully to try to search for any hint of sarcasm or a hidden threat but finds none. Scowling, he allows Spock to lead him into a room filled with Vulcan medics and once again allow the device to be locked around his neck. Not once do his angry blue eyes leave Spock's as medics bustle about him.

**…**

Now he's running. His breathes ease in and out of his throat while his feet crunch the hard asphalt below him while he flies around the track. His legs burn with the satisfaction of exercise and he almost smiles. It had been ages since his last work out. Captain Kirk was a lot of things but he was, in all, a somewhat moral man. No harm would come to the woman with him around and Khan could take a small reprieve from guard duty to allow his thoughts to settle.

Seeing Ze'eva like that had reminded him of his family and had shot of fireworks of blinding white pain throughout his chest. The scientists had done the same to his young protege. He had been three years old and it had been four years before the Eugenics: back when they were still lab rats yearning for freedom beyond their cold and sterile cages. The gas had been in the experimental stages then but it was still devastatingly effective. They had infected the young boy with the toxic fumes and laughed while he struggled in vain to live. Nothing had worked to revive him: the Augments had tried everything from blood transfusions to chemical solutions.

But they had failed.

The scientists had spared the boy's life only for Admiral Marcus to execute the child's execution in front of Khan's cell roughly three hundred years later. None of Khan's screaming or begging had saved the young boy.

And now Ze'eva was ill with the same thing.

It was a lost cause, he knew, but he still felt the need to protect her even if she was doomed to die. This time, there would be no miraculous serums to save her. These people were basically as advanced on this planet as the people of the early twentieth century had been and Star Fleet wasn't going to waste its precious resources to save a loose cannon like her—not with the threat she posed to Sector 31. If she could have the entire organization banned on this planet, what other kind of damage could she wreak on them?

Khan runs faster and feels his lungs beginning to burn but he doesn't care; he needs the pain to drive away these thoughts, these tortured memories. What would Khan's family think if they knew that it was partially Khan's fault that the child had died? That, if he had simply obeyed the Admiral's orders and stayed put, that life would never have been lost in that manner? An explosion was a fast death and would have been preferable to the one that boy had been given.

Last night, Ze'eva had had difficulty breathing and her heart had nearly stopped again. Alieth had worked furiously on Ze'eva to being her back and Khan had donated blood…but it wasn't looking good. Cassie had finally managed to drag Alieth away and McCoy took over this morning. She was still alive—but just barely.

_No, don't think about it—run, _he orders himself inwardly and he runs until his knees collapse beneath him and he's gasping for air. He was a solder, not a medic. He had given blood for the cause, that was all he could do. Dwelling on that fact would help nothing.

**…**

He walks wearily to the recreation room.

"Hey! You're cheating!" A voice whines and Khan freezes.

_No, it can't be._

"It's not _my_ fault you have terrible aim," A second voice laughs.

Khan creeps forward to peer in the doorway. He sees Cassie bouncing a basketball and another person leaps forward to snatch it away from her. Cassie squeals and races after the person. She runs into the girl just as the ball leaves her fingers and soars into the air.

It bounces off the hoop.

"Dang it! I almost had it!" The figure yells.

"Better luck next time", Cassie laughs and she lightly shoves the figure. The figure wobbles unsteadily but keeps their balance.

Khan walks inside, "Ze'eva?"

The woman leaps around, tensed and ready to run. The moment her eyes light on Khan, she relaxes. "How goes it?" She asks and he frowns. "Sorry, I thought you were Alieth. Leaving the medical ward before being discharged properly is one of her pet peeves and trust me, you don't want see a Vulcan when they're angry." She grins.

"You were dead." He states. "This morning you had nearly died and now you're playing basketball?"

"I heal a lot faster than the average human," She shrugs. "It's no big deal."

"No big deal?" He growls as he stalks up to her, "That substance murdered many of my friends," He pens her against the wall by her shoulder and Cassie cowers away from them and looks to the emergency button on the far wall. "And you say that it's 'no big deal'?"

"It would seem so." She says evenly and he grips her shoulder harder.

"What do you think you are doing to my patient, Mr. Singh?" Small hands pull him away from Ze'eva and Alieth glares at them both. "You," She looks at Ze'eva, "should be resting. And you." She narrows her eyes at Khan, "Have been requested in the Labs. Flame needs you." She grips Ze'eva by the forearm and all but drags her away.

"Curious," Khan says evenly. "I was expecting her to break into some sort of unstoppable rage…that was…boring."

"Hey, just be glad you don't have her job…" Cassie says cautiously and he smirks inside. They may control him with their toys but it's always good to know that he can instill fear into their hearts if need be. "But Ze'eva is notoriously the worst patient here. Ever."

**…**

She's sleeping again. Alieth had hooked her up to another IV and slipped a mild sedative in. Khan presses the back of his hand to her forehead and can feel the fever burning just beneath the skin as her temperature rises to 110F.

"This can't be safe," He looks at Alieth.

"She is part Vulcan and her temperature has jumped as high as 140F before. For her, this is normal." That would explain how she managed to jump back from the sickness so quickly: the fever burned a lot of it off. "I've also got a metaphorical eye on her. Hopefully, I will be able to discharge her in the next few days," She yawns.

"That soon?" He raises an eyebrow. For the members of his crew that had survived it, it had taken them weeks before they were even able to stand.

"Affirmative. Would you mind watching her? I need to check on my other patients."

"Yes." He nods slightly. "That would be fine." She leaves and Khan once again turns his attention back to Ze'eva. _Why was she able to combat this so easily when so many others had failed? What made her so different?_


	50. Chapter 50

**Here's a LONG chapter. WARNING: PLOT TWIST AHEAD. **

**Chapter 50**

Ze'eva wakes up and squints as she tries to make sense of her surroundings. The moment she tries to sit up, Khan pushes her carefully back down.

"Rest," He commands firmly.

"Make me." She tries to sit up again but he holds he holds her down easily with a hand on her shoulder.

"Do you really think it wise to provoke me?" He growls as a ripple of amusement jolts through him at her stubbornness. Surely, she wouldn't think she'd be able to defy him? Not when he was stronger. Not when he was _better._

"One could ask you the same question, old timer."

She strains against his hand in vain. And he smirks at her, his eyes gleaming punches him in the stomach with her left hand. It doesn't hurt. His fingers snake around her throat and she punches him again-harder this time-as he applies pressure. If she won't listen to reason, then it won't be that difficult to make her go unconscious from asphyxiation.

"What are you two doing?" Alieth asks as she walks in, a single eyebrow raised in silent confusion and Khan releases Ze'eva's throat. She glares at him coldly and elbows him roughly in his abdomen. He flinches but doesn't cry out.

"Planning homicide and how to make it look like an accident and what about you? Want to help?" Ze'eva replies as she tries to squirm away from Khan's grasp on her shoulder: she can't.

"I will never understand humans." Alieth mutters as she moves to check Ze'eva monitors.

"That makes two of us." Ze'eva grunts and she almost succeeds at lifting his hand off of her. Khan presses down a little harder and curls his fingers into the fabric of her shirt. "You're an awful person." She remarks to Khan and she kicks his leg.

"Am I now?" He says darkly and Alieth rolls her eyes at both of them.

"_Humans_." She curses under her breath. "Why do they always give me the _human_ patients?" She walks out of the room and Ze'eva kicks him again. Khan chuckles and releases his hold.

"You need to rest," He reasons. "If you don't lie back down," He warns as she sits up. "I will get them to sedate you again."

"You suck." She grumbles and she crosses her arms over her chest and glares at him. Khan meets her gaze unflinchingly. "So," She sighs loudly. "How was your day? Was it fabulous?"

He considers choking her again.

**…**

"You two are strange." McCoy stands in the doorway and eyes Khan warily before shaking his head. "Anyway, while you sleeping, Ze'eva—unlike the _rest_ of us—I took a few blood samples."

Khan notes the exhaustion exuding from his shaky frame and the dark bags under his eyes. He must not have slept well at all these past few days-such was the way of medic's lottery: big pay, no sleep.

"And the results weren't that great?" Ze'eva offers and McCoy shakes his head.

"Not exactly; the results were…"

"Bad?" Ze'eva guesses.

"No..." He hesitates.

She tries again: "Then they were good…?"

"Not _exactly_..." McCoy squirms a little and clears his throat.

"Okay, then. So, the results were…_what_ exactly? Come on, doc. I don't have all day. I have lives to ruin, dreams to crush, and I can't do that while I wait for your mouth to catch up with your brain, gramps." Ze'eva complains and McCoy sighs in frustration and runs a hand through his hair.

"Your results were abnormal and certainly _not_ what we were expecting."

"If I have to ask what the results were again, I _will_ strangle you." She threatens and Khan smirks silently beside her. It was a relief to know that he wasn't the only violent person out there, sometimes.

"Well, first off, most of that sickness is out of your system. You may see a few more flare-ups, but the worst seems to have already passed. Just drink plenty of fluids and get lots of rest…"

Khan looks at Ze'eva meaningfully but she ignores him. His eyes flicker back to the uncomfortable doctor and analyze him carefully: he's hiding something.

"_And_…?" Ze'eva glares at him.

"And…we seem to have made a genetic discovery...one that concerns you." McCoy shifts uncomfortably as the two eye him suspiciously.

Why did he always have to deliver the bad news? McCoy wonders. Why couldn't_ Spock_ have been the one to deliver this? Heck, or _even_ Kirk?

"We found out who your dad is." He finishes.

"Already knew that—you done yet?" She cuts in quickly as she tries to rise from the bed-Khan pushes her back down. She slaps him and McCoy smirks.

_If only they knew_, McCoy thinks ruefully

"Maybe, I should tell her?" Cassie walks behind the doctor and he rushes away without a second's hesitation. If Khan didn't know any better, he'd say the man was running away in terror, but what could possibly be so bad about learning one's parentage?

"What was he bumbling on about?" Ze'eva questions as Cassie sinks into a chair by her bed.

"Khan is your dad." Cassie says and Khan raises an eyebrow and blinks quickly.

What? Is there some kind of joke he missed here? Is this a prank?

Ze'eva frowns and Khan looks back and forth between the two women. This can't be right. Any minute now, the two are going to burst into laughter and start chatting like a bunch of teenage girls. But they don't. The silence stretches longer and longer and Khan can feel his stomach start to fill with lead. No. He was not a father.

He was a murderer.

He was a monster.

_Not_ a dad.

"Very funny." Ze'eva rolls her eyes but, to Khan's dismay, Cassie does not begin to laugh.

It was _not_ a joke.

"Well, that's good because I was not joking."

"You do realize, of course, that those machines aren't exactly the most _reliable_ in the world, right? There is a margin for error. A relatively_ large_ margin. I need to see about getting those stupid things fixed…or replaced…" Ze'eva says quickly as she tries to rationalize it all away.

Khan doesn't want her to be hid kid either, but it stings a little that she wouldn't want to be. After all, he was superior. Was she sickened by him?

Cassie speaks: "What's what Alieth said and they took the samples to test on the _Enterprise_ and McCoy tested it himself. It was still positive, Ze'eva, and there is nothing wrong with_ those_ machines. There is a definite genetic similarity between you two. And you act…similar. You both tilt your heads when you speak, and incredibly smart, and have blue-ish eyes. You said so yourself: for the experiment kids, 'A' is Augment, right? So, maybe 'Ak' wasn't a different species? What if it was a way of clarification? 'A' is for Augment, and 'k' is for Khan?"

"Augments are essentially human." She sits up and ignores the glare Khan throws her way at her disobeying his earlier commands for her 'to rest' so that she'll heal faster. "It could be a shared ancestor."

"But it's not." Cassie says and Ze'eva yawns.

"Alright, that's it-peace out, yo." Ze'eva jumps to her feet and leaves the room.

"Where are you going?" Cassie calls but Ze'eva never answers.

**…**

"You don't like the idea of being related to me." Khan states finally when he locates Ze'eva in the SAR's small library.

She's sitting at a hardwood table with a mound of books around her and her back to a pale blue wall. She never looks up from the notebook in her hands as she makes notes in it. It's tilted towards her so that he can't see what's she's writing.

"Why? What's so wrong with sharing my blood?"

"I have enough parents and, besides, adults are crazy."

"You're an adult," He points out and he takes a seat in front of her.

"Never said that I wasn't."

"What happened during the Human Vulcan war?" Khan asks, changing the topic.

"As I've said before, a gas was released into our atmosphere that affected the nervous systems of every Vulcan and Vulcan hybrid on the planet, except those with human DNA. They went crazy and started killing people and, as a result, the humans went and started slaughtering them—even the ones not affected. My brother and I barely got away…but _so many people_ died." She pauses for a moment and Khan can see the gears whirling in her mind.

She continues: "It was ironic because the humans thought that they were killing monsters. Every time they saw a Vulcan they saw something that was evil and inhuman…but they never saw that when they looked in the mirror-and they should have. They were too blind to see it. They'd gather up the elderly and the young Vulcans-the ones who posed no threat and were to feeble to get away-and burn them while claiming that their brutality was an effort to save their human families and friends. But they were actually destroying it. The Vulcans were their brothers and their sisters and, in their pain, they seemed to have forgotten that."

There's something more to this: he can see it. It lies just on the tip of her tongue but she refuses to give voice to it to allow it to fly. What is she not saying and why? Is it too painful to vocalize or too risky? Was that what she thought of them? Did she compare him to the humans? Did she see her enemies when she looked at him?

"And that's what you see when you see me: a monster."

"I see raw pain, actually. I see that look in every experiment or Vulcan person on this planet and they reflect back at the world subconsciously. I see guilt, and shame, and bitter regret etched into your facial expressions and woven into your gate. I see a man that has been broken both psychological and physically and a man that has manipulated over and over again. I see someone who is willing to kill and to die for those he cares about…someone who is dangerous but not someone who I would consider a monstrosity."

"You think I am feeling _shame_ for my actions?_ Regret_?" He spits as he rises and she watches him calmly.

"Why else would you try to help, Roni or react so strongly to my words? Your defensiveness is an indicator that you think that I am correct." She shoots back quietly. "You killed a lot of innocent people and ruined a lot of lives: of course you're feeling remorse—who wouldn't? You may think Augments to be superior, but there is one crucial factor that you are overlooking."

"And what would that be?" He leans in so close that they are sharing the same air, their noses inches apart. Her warm breath flickers across his face and her eyes stare back at him unflinchingly but he can sense that irritation that is beginning to build up beneath those calm blue-green depths.

"That you're still human." She rises and he moves with her, putting a hand on the wall on either side of her head, trapping her in place. Again he leans close in a show of dominance but she doesn't flinch away from him or cower like countless others.

"Am I?" He growls and she does the unexpected: she sneezes-in his face! He whips his head back and swipes his hand across his face instinctively and she laughs as she slips easily past him. She did it on purpose!

"It would appear so, Khan. Yes, you are _definitely_ human."

**…**

She's sleeping again, this time in the far corner of the library. Her chest rises and falls slowly. She's leaning against a bookshelf with her legs stretched out in front of her and her arms crossed loosely over her chest. Amichai rests on her chest and dozes with his nose tucked into her armpit. That small notebook lies on the ground in front of her and Khan picks it up, his eyes widening with surprise. It wasn't filled with notes, it was filled with drawings.

It was filled with her life.

It is filled with images of Sector 31. Hiding and running. Needles and injections. Fear and pain: a chaotic swirl of black, and gray, and white all carved into the creamy paper. Sterile white walls and jeering scientist with shining spectacles and cruel, predatory smiles leap put at him and he can sense his own nightmares of the place beginning to surface. There are forced fights to death among experiments while the scientist watch on with their clip boards and pens ready. And all of experimental children are severely emancipated. Ze'eva and her siblings (Roni, Hali, and Eli) are no exception.

And now she's in her home, curling into her mother's side. The woman holds her tightly and buries her nose in the girl's hair as though she can protect her against the horrors of the outside world, but she can't. She couldn't even protect herself in the end. Steam rises from an old and cracked coffee mug but the liquid within is boiled water. Why? Does she not like coffee or is she too poor to afford it? Their clothes are old, worn, and torn. Their house bare. She had a heavy wooden door with many locks but an empty pantry.

_What would good was her mother's false projection of safety when their enemy could still claim their lives from lack of food?_ Khan thinks wryly.

And then there is a picture of two scared children (Ze'eva and her brother, Eli) are cowering in the darkness of a damp and shallow cave with the human men rage against the world outside. Their guns blare and blast, destroying anything and everything within sight. Ze'eva looked to be around ten: Eli around seven. Tears of terror snaked down their cheeks.

The next one: a war torn city. Ash coats the ground and their hair.

Their clothes.

They looked numb and shell shocked. Ze'eva is pulling Eli to his feet and dragging him away as the men enter the desecrated village to kill the Vulcan survives. People lay sprawled and bloody and dead in the blackened dirt. A baby cries and women wail their sorrows to the sky. The next: packs of heavily armed men hunting Vulcan children, their mouths wide with screaming….

It was a nightmare, Khan surmises grimly. If he is her father, then it would seem that she if following closely in his footsteps. War and pain forge her path and her past drips red with the blood of the innocents she couldn't save. Her people are begging and pleading for their lives and she is struggling to save the experiments and fight for the few Vulcans that remain.

While he was creating weapons of mass destruction for the late Admiral, she had been starving to death. While he was locked away from the world in his cold cell, she was fighting for the life of her and her brother. And that other boy. Zero, wasn't it? He fought for his family, she fought for his. He fought savagely, tooth and nail to exact his vengeance and curl towards what he thought to be justice whereas she conquered with compassion and mercy.

He failed.

She did not.

Her people are safe; his are dead.

Maybe she was right, he thinks as he puts her book back and covers her with his jacket. He may be an Augment, but he was, essential, still human where it mattered. And maybe he wasn't quite as superior as he liked to think.

But he would never admit that.

Not to her.

And not even to himself.

**So? How was that? Please review and tell me what you think.**


	51. Chapter 51

**Chapter 51**

"Yes, Ze'eva." McCoy sighs. "You two are definitely related." He puts a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry. I have a counselor on speed dial, if you want to talk to someone." She rolls her eyes and moves away so that his hand falls back to his side. Khan briefly contemplates his options.

What he wants to do is punch the doctor hard enough that he flies into the wall and then Khan wants to hear the satisfying crunch as he brutaly snaps the bone in his arm right in two and the melody of his anguished screams that will follow. But doing so will drop him to the ground as electricity knives painfully into his nervous system and causes him to scream until his throat goes hoarse and unconsciousness takes him hostage. To attack or not to attack: that is the question plaguing every Augment, ever.

"I'm sure I'll find a way to cope without your friend, mind you." She stands to leave. "So, when am I finally getting you 'space explorers' out of my air space? I mean, you're great and all, but you're stealing both my oxygen_ and_ my food. So…"

Khan feels a small puff of joy go through him at her words; she was like him in a way. He typically wounds with physical blows whereas she lunges in mercilessly with razor sharp words—far more effective. Better to wound the heart than the body, the damage lasts longer and is more permanent. He, of all people, should know that.

He is impressed with her; she doesn't care.

"Well, the Enterprise was sabotaged while you, your friend, and Khan decided _to go camping_." McCoy grumbles sarcastically, "So, it may be a while. The explosives ripped holes where there shouldn't be any. And a tin can designed to venture into the cold, lifeless _vacuum of space_ shouldn't have holes in it." He rolls his eyes and mutters under his breath about being a doctor and not an engineer.

"Whatever. Here, I'll tell you what: get your captain to see me later, I just might be able to help—and you can _tell that_ to your shrink."

McCoy gives her a crooked smile and rolls his eyes. "Get out of here," he swats at her with a rolled up newspaper.

"It's my medbay! You can't kick me out!" She complains and Khan chuckles quietly.

"I don't seem to be able to speak your language," McCoy says as he shuts the door on them.

Ze'eva looks at Khan and shrugs, "I guess he finally cracked. Do you think it was his lack of people skills or the fact that he's in Star Fleet that did him in?" She jokes.

He smirks back at her, "Could be that he had a three minute conversation with you. That seems to be the undoing of most."

"You know what? You suck."

**…**

"So, why don't you like the idea of me being your father?"

"I'm not a people person nor do I have good experiences with parents."

"How so?"

"My mother was a violent alcoholic but I can't really say I blamed her."

"You mother?" He had thought the woman to be a lot of things but a drunkard certainly wasn't one of them.

"Yeah, crazy right? She was poor and owed a lot of debts so, she donated some eggs for money. We weren't ever supposed to have developed. We were to be nothing more than clumps of cells and they'd study us for research. Then, one day, the scientist wanted her back and offered more cash. They proposed that she act as a birth mother for the eggs she donated and she agreed under the assumption that she'd never have to know anything about us, let alone raise us. She was still poor and starving, so…she agreed."

"But she did know you."

"She did." Ze'eva agrees, "They kept for months after each of us were born and she didn't know the date of our birth. When they let her out, they made her take me with her. And then the next one and the next. For years, nothing happened. They ran simple tests and stuff but nothing invasive or cruel," She shrugged. "Like normal doctor's appointments, I guess."

"And then what happened?"

"Kids started dying. More and more of them and she just sort of figured it out…and there was no where to run. A couple tried to. They grabbed their kids and tried to leave this place and go somewhere else—they were shot down and tortured at great length. It was so bad, no one else has ever attempted it again. She started drinking soon after."

"And…your father?" Khan asks hesitantly. In truth, he almost didn't want to know. But he had too.

"And my father was a machine who popped up every once in a while before disappearing to his real family. He was told of our existence when I was ten. Funny thing is, my mom didn't know who he was—it was a double blind procedure. He just popped up one day and started helping out with food and stuff. He'd get violent every now and then, but, turns out, that was part of their minds games to see how we would react to negative stimuli.

She continues quietly, "Why would I ask for another parent when the ones I already had were so…_fantastic_? Besides, I'm not a kid anymore, and I'm supposedly in charge of your health and whatnot—not the other way around," She shrugs, "So…would that make me _your _parent? I cook your food, make sure you clean your room, make sure you place nice with the other adults and not commit mass homicide…you know, normal parent things…" She trails off.

"So, it's not me." He states.

"Oh, no. It's _definitely_ you." She puts a hand on his shoulder. "I just didn't want to hurt your feelings. Want to talk about it? That McCoy guy has a councilor's number on speed dial…I'm sure he/she might care enough to listen to you before hanging up and then getting themselves mentally evaluated and subsequently getting locked into a loony bin after hearing your tales." She shudders. "But I wouldn't worry too much about it."

"That was cold." Cassie says as she passes them in the hallway. "So, where you heading?"

"To blow stuff up."

"Terrorist." Cassie laughs.

"You have no idea." Ze'eva replies and Cassie's eyes go wide. Her face makes to classic WTF expression and she gives Ze'eva a wider birth while eyeballing her backpack.

"What?! You're a what now?" Cassie exclaims and Khan finds himself analyzing Ze'eva carefully. No…this wasn't right.

"That was sarcasm, Cassie. You missed it—SO, how's the baby? Um…Lucky, was it?"

"His name is Luke."

"Right…is he doing…good?"

"Yeah, he's over in NICU and they're doing some observation…Alieth is heading everything, and I'm pretty sure he's in good hands. Dr. McCoy checks in on him too."

"Sounds…fun." Ze'eva stammers.

"I'm sure he'll be fine." Khan reassures her. "He just inhaled a little too much smoke. Give him about a week and he'll be back to normal." He shoots Ze'eva a look and she squirms uncomfortably under his glacial gaze.

**…**

"Why did you reassure her?" Ze'eva questions. "You don't know that. You don't know that he'll be okay."

"Sometimes some hope is better than no hope."

"But false hope is worse than no hope. Then you build up expectations only to watch them fall apart and break your heart into a bunch of sharp little pieces."

"Is that what's wrong with you?" He inquires.

"Nah, I related to you remember? If I don't sulk in the shadows or threaten people, then I'm even more of a genetic abnormality then the White Coats originally thought."

"Very funny." Khan says emotionlessly.

"I've offended you." She says after a moment.

"I'm not offended." He denies quickly. In truth, her found her funny. Her cluelessness was humorous.

"And I hurt your feelings. Well, sucks to be you." She walks away and he stares after her.

He could see the resemblance. She was definitely his daughter.

**…**

"Uncle Khan!" Eliana runs in and grabs Khan's leg in a hug and she laughs and the other two run after her. Truk follows after them wearily and yawns widely.

"Have you seen…?"

"Down in the labs," Khan answers as he works on extracting the girl from his leg.

"Blowing stuff again?"

"And torturing cats." Khan says tonelessly expecting Truk to freak out and say something about the horrors of animal abuse and morality…

"That's my girl."

Khan grins.

**…**

"Mommy!" Aaron leaps at me and she pulls him into her arms.

"You're okay!" I shout as I pull him closer and buried my face in his curly brown hair. "I've got you. It's all right. Everything is alright. We're okay…" I murmur. "Everything is okay."

The twins run in and we group hug. Khan watches from the sidelines but I don't care. My family is safe. Meditech didn't touch them. I feel Truk wrap me in an embrace and we all stay like that for a few minutes.

And then a bomb goes off.

The fireworks shoot upwards—a flash of blue—and a cat yowls indignantly at the noise. We break into laughter as it bristles and spits and Flame lights off another one—this time red.


	52. Chapter 52

**Hope you like violence and suspense because it's coming at you in this chapter. Please review and tell me what you think.**

**Chapter 52**

I'm at home alone now. Aaron is sleeping in his room. Truk and the girls are making a supply run for medical supplies and Cassie and Khan give medical care for some Vulcans and humans who were wounded in a Klingon raid (but, knowing Khan, he's probably blowing things up with Flame down in the labs). The raids are getting more frequent—more brutal.

Captain Kirk said that within a span of two weeks, there were at least thirty different attacks. Our long range communications are down, as those of the _Enterprise_. We're sitting ducks and Star Fleet is sitting back and laughing at our hopelessness. The Captain and his crew fought for Khan's life and those of his crew as did I. Now, we're all in the same boat and left at the mercy of a merciless foe.

I'm upstairs. The moons blink down at me from the window and I smile weakly up at the stars. A gentle breeze stirs from the north and brings with it the scent sweet of the last flowers until spring. Amichai rolls onto his back and smiles up at the roof with his eyes closed in quiet contentment.

It's calm. Quiet.

I sigh and lie on my bed and stare up at the roof and will sleep to come. It doesn't. I groan and walk over to my book shelf and pick up a diary I had found while exploring some ancient ruins by the canyons. The writer was a woman named Rose, one of the first humans to be brought here from Earth during the times of our colonization and Earth's Eugenic Wars.

_April, 10_

_It's weird being here,_ She writes. _The plants look strange—blue instead of green. Foreign animals cry from a huge and overgrown forest and much of the water is toxic. We test what we can for poisons, but what doesn't poison is filled with bacteria that make many fall ill. They die soon after. The supplies come in once a week, baring more food, medicine, clothes, and more clueless settlers. There are about three hundred of us now…but few seem to be useful. Most are common men and women—no children._

**...**

I get bored and skip about thirty pages.

**...**

_December 20_

_There's snow here. By now, we have a small city: houses, streets, stores…_

_I had to run away yesterday, I and my little brother, David. I did something bad—I gave blood to save a little girl's life. She will live, and she will heal rapidly…but they will know what I am—their cameras will have recorded me doing the forbidden act. If I stay, they will kill me for what I am. I and my brother, we will both burn for my mistake. I saw some caves the other day. I will gather supplies now and break the news to him. We will leave in an hour's time, never to return again. I refuse to die for what I am and I will not apologize for being created the way I was._

_I am not a part of their war. That doesn't not mean that I don't miss my dark night with his pale blue, smoldering eyes…but now, we must flee or die for doing a good deed._

**...**

I think for a minute. _What is she? An Augment? Is her 'dark knight' Khan? What the heck?_ I slam the book closed and refuse to read another word. _All these stupid riddles and secrets are getting annoying._

"Mommy," Aaron stands in my doorway with his blanket hugged to his chest. I blink.

Something is wrong.

"Is everything okay?" I hold out my arms and he runs into my embrace. "What's wrong?" I ask as I ruffle his hair.

"I heard a noise." He whispers. "Do you think bad guys are here?"

"Everything's fine. You probably had a nightmare—"

A thud sounds downstairs and Amichai jerks awake and growls softly. His hackles raise in a quiet challenge and I can hear the stairs creaking. It's not Khan—he can't come up to the second floor, his collar prohibits it. Truk would have made more noise since the girls are with him. The would have been laughing and giggling, making all kinds of noise. The door is locked—Cassie would never have gotten in. Then who is here?

If they have to hide, then it must not be anyone good.

I think of the White Coats (The scientists from Sector 31 or Meditech) and curse.

"Get under the bed," I whisper. "And don't come out until I come and get you." I breathe and I move to grab my knife.

"I'm scared," He hugs me and I can smell the sharp sting of fear jumping off of him. My heart breaks for a moment. I'm scared too.

"Nothing is going to hurt you." I hug him back and gently push him beneath the bed and pull my blanket down to better hide him. "I promise." I say before standing back up and creeping towards the doorway. My doorway.

It's black.

Pitch black.

I can smell the foreign scents of the intruders and hear the air shift as they move and breathe. Small rivulets of fear shake through my body and I fight to squash the streams before they build into a flood that will grab me and drag me away. To lose control is to forfeit my life.

I will not be like Rose. I will not run away.

I reach the staircase and start to go down it slowly.

They creak a little under my weight and I tense, expecting phaser blasts to rip into my chest. Or for knives to sink into my flesh. Any second now, I am going to get hurt and blinding pain is going to become my reality.

Nothing.

I sigh quietly and continue to moving forward slowly. A figure looms ahead of me, huge and intimidating. It's too broad to be Khan, too tall to be Cassie or Truk. Most of the Enterprise people are now staying in spare rooms in the SAR…even so, this guy is much too large to be any of them.

_What is it?_ I wonder as my heart pounds faster in anticipation of the fight soon to come. I hate violence and pain. I hate how my body reacts and ignore my mind as I become a machine, my knife flying as easily from my hand as a Frisbee would from a child's.

And I never miss my mark.

Never.

White hot, searing pain rips through the tissue of my right foot and I stifle a scream…but a strangled groan still manages to escape. The figure turns towards me and roars, its hand flying towards it's abdomen, probably to grab a weapon. I don't think—I act. I hurl my knife at the figure and wince at the dull thud that follows at the blade finds its mark in his skull and he crashes to the ground. I limp downwards and retrieve my knife.

_One down…but how many to go?_

_Two?_

_Eight?_

Slowly, I limp from room to room. I find two more in the kitchen. Like the first one, one of the two charge me straight on. I see the gleam of a Klingon blade: a mevlak.

_Wait…Klingon blade?_

_What are Klingons doing in my house?!_

I dispatch him easily by throwing a kitchen knife into his throat. He gurgles and falls.

The second Klingon slams into me and hurls me across the room. I slam—hard—into the wall and wince as pain flares up my spine. He laughs coldly and flicks the kitchen light on. My eyes burn at the sudden light and I lie on the ground, stunned from the impact, as I try to steal my breath back into my lungs. My ears ring and my heart pounds as he creeps forward at a tauntingly slow pace. I gasp and force myself up by my elbow.

"Look what we have here," He jeers. He has deep ridges on his forehead and short brown hair. His blue eyes laugh coldly at me and I glare at him defiantly. "An Earth female." He spits. More warriors trickle into the room: I'm outnumbered four to one.

_Just great…_

"Are there no warriors here capable of putting up a good fight?" He continues. "Or are you all there is?" He laughs and my fingers slip around the hilt of my knife.

Unbeknownst to most, the hilt can snap in half, giving me two blades to fight with…I would have two blades and four enemies. They are stronger than me and warriors trained in the art of killing. All four are heavily armed and would have no qualms killing me.

_The one day, I'm I get a reprieve from my family and babysitting Khan and these idiots show up!_

_Really, universe? REALLY?!_

I throw my knife and hold onto the spare. The knife takes down the leader, the one who laughed at me. The other three draw phasers and I leap to my feet and slip over to the steak knives, grab three, and duck as phaser blasts split the night. Moving quickly, I limp from the room and turn to drop another one with a knife to the throat. He drops instantly, just like the others. Pain leaps through the palm of my foot but I ignore it as I run, leaving bloody footprints in my wake. The kitchen lights flicker off as the intruders slip into the shadows and I tremble slightly in fear. It will be harder to kill them when I can't see them and they already have enough advantages over me in this duel to the death.

Headlights flash in from the window and my heart drops.

_More have just arrived, haven't they?_

_Wonderful…there goes mom's day off, kids. Better luck next year, I guess. Well, if there is one. Yay, optimism._

**…**

Cassie slows the car down and both her and Khan look at the house carefully. The front door is hanging off the hinges and a window is broken. The lights are off and there's not a single sign of life. Okay…is this another one of Ze'eva's experiments or is something wrong?

Khan is out of the vehicle before Cassie even has a chance to stop. She freezes at the idea of being left alone and quickly jumps out of the car and rushes after him. He gives her a curious glance but doesn't remark on her presence. She shadows him as he slips inside.

**…**

With a roar, one Klingon on rushes at me and begins to fire. I jump out of the way and am shocked to see his blasts burying themselves into his friend's abdomen. His friend's mouth opens in a wordless scream as he hits to floor dead. The other one tackles me and I slam into the ground. His hands twist around my throat and he lifts me up and slams me into the wall over and over until my vision starts to go black and I see stars. My feet can't touch the ground and I begin to panic because I can't breathe! I gurgle and he draws me closer to his face.

"Try again." He sneers. "I didn't hear you."

"Drop dead," I growl as I pull my remaining knife from its hilt and stab into his stomach over and over again.

He hurls me away from him and I slam into the wall again and crash ungracefully onto the hard floor. Struggling, I slip my fingers around another knife that had clattered to the ground and hurl it at his knees as he lunges for me. He goes down hard and more footsteps rush into the room. I get ready to attack.

The light flicks on again and I narrow my eyes in aggravation.

"Ze'eva!" A woman (Cassie?) yells and I find the air rushing out of my lungs as she drags me into a stifling bear hug.

"'Sup?" I gasp as I push her away.

"Are you alright?" Khan asks and his eyes light on my for a second before he goes back to surveying the room. There are bodies all over the room and blood everywhere.

"Yeah," I lie and his eyes narrow at me and flick to my foot which is still bleeding badly. Cassie follows his gaze and gasps.

"What happened?" Her fingers touch the wound and I flinch and barely muffle a scream.

"Apparently, someone left some tacks on the staircase," I say, wincing as her hands continue to probe the sole of my foot. I consider kicking her but dismissing the idea quickly; no, that would hurt worse. "Was it you?" I glare at Khan and he shakes his head.

"No." He says firmly but I don't believe him for a second. He notices and narrows his eyes indignantly as if being called a liar is a foreign concept to him. It's not.

"Hold on, Ze'eva." She rises and looks around the room quickly before picking up a fork. "I'll have them out in a few minutes."

Khan smiles at me coldly as she yanks the tacks from my foot with the fork and I consider killing him. And then Cassie sanitized the wound with rubbing alcohol.

_Heck, for all this pain, she may as well take my whole foot off! Jeez!_

**…**

"So, what happened?" Khan asks when Cassie drives away to go home. The Enterprise crew was called in hours ago and they begin to haul the bodies into trucks to take to large burn pile or mass grave. Spock frowns at them from the kitchen but Kirk quickly orders him to help Scotty get one particularly large guy outside. Together they grunt and lift the limp form towards the doorway

Ze'eva shrugs at Khan. "I'm not sure." She admits and she examines the bandage Cassie had applied to her wound. "It's weird. Usually they attack entire cities, not specific homes. And when they do attack, it's from their ships…not personal assaults like this."

"And you just killed them?" He inquires quietly. "Just like that and you're…fine?" He finishes and lifts and eyebrow. She wasn't a cold blooded killed like he was. She had morals, a conscious unlike him.

_How is she not in shock? How is she not screaming or breaking into tears?_

"Yeah," She shrugs. "I guess I did, didn't I?" She looks away to gaze up the staircase and sighs. "Well," She yawns. "I need to check on Aaron." She meets his gaze of a split second and he can see the fear and sorrow raging beneath her blue-green eyes before limping away. "See you tomorrow."

She runs away before he has a chance to call her back.


	53. Chapter 53

**Chapter 53**

Truk and the girls had returned late last night. By the time they had arrived, Khan had cleaned up all of the blood and dragged most of the bodies outside. Ze'eva had been upstairs in her room. Khan listened while they murmured quietly and then as they walked over to Aaron's room to check in on the toddler before retiring for the night.

**…**

The next day, they (Spock and Kirk) bombard Ze'eva with questions about what happened.

_Do you know who they were? Why do you think they attacked you personally? Did they say anything about what they were looking for? Where they breaking in to rob them or to slaughter any residents? Why did you fight them? Why didn't you call someone for help? How did you survive?_

Khan watches as she answers their questions. Neither her face nor voice show emotion. She sits with her back straight and stares at them evenly. The three stare at each other when their questions run out and Ze'eva bounces her leg up and down with silent impatience.

"Done yet?" She asks and Kirk smirks at her before nodding.

"Yeah." Kirk says as he rises and Spock stands with him. "Is it okay if we swing by the SAR later?" He asks. "I need to talk to you about something." Spock shoots his captain a curious glance and raises and eyebrow but he says nothing.

"Sure, meet me in the Conference Room, I guess; I won't have long to talk though, you'll probably need to make it quick."

"I will try." Kirk extends his hand and Ze'eva stares at him.

"Goodbye," She says finally while she gives his hand a disdainful glare and buries her hands deeper in her jacket pockets.

"Would it be permissible if I stay awhile?" Spock inquires with a polite nod in Ze'eva's direction. She looks at him carefully.

"And what would be the purpose of your extended visit?" She asks carefully as she studies his passive face. As always, his face gives away no emotion and Khan feels a pang of irritation flare up. He really didn't like that Vulcan.

"I would like to question Aaron about the events of last night." Spock says calmly.

"He wasn't in the room." She says. "He didn't see anything."

"Perhaps not, but, for the sake of being thorough, it would be logical to talk to him. He may prove to have useful insight. He could have looked out the window and seen something useful or perhaps heard something that we could use." Spock pauses as he considers his next words. "If you are comfortable with it, of course." He states.

Ze'eva thinks for a moment before nodding to him. "If he starts to seem distressed, then stop questioning him."

Spock nods, "Of course." He starts to walk away and Ze'eva catches him by the sleeve.

"And be kind—speak softly. He is a child—do not frighten him." She adds and Khan hear a quiet threat beneath her words. Spock seems to hear it as well and he raises an eyebrow at her.

"Frightening him is not my intention. I merely want to see if he could shine some metaphorical light onto the situation. It is troubling that Klingons would seek out _your_ house in particular to attack rather than attacking villages and cities as is the norm. If Aaron begins to show signs of being distressed, then I will stop my questions: you have my word. Perhaps, if this happens, we could play…catch…or we could do some other form of Earth game."

"That certainly sounds acceptable." She releases his arm.

**...**

"How is your foot?" Khan asks and Ze'eva shrugs while she watches Spock ask Aaron questions outside.

They are both sitting in the grass, Spock in front of Aaron, with their legs lotus style and their hands resting lightly on their knees. They look calm, content. Aaron smiles a little and laughs at one question and Khan smirks to the Vulcan's brow furrow in confusion at the child's emotional response.

"Good as new. No infections or open wounds." Ze'eva says and he looks back at her. _She healed already? That fast? That must be something she had inherited from him._

"You have accelerated regenerative healing capabilities…" He murmurs. "It is a common trait of an Augment." He looks at her and studies her carefully.

"I am not an Augment." She says evenly.

"Perhaps." He admits cautiously. "But we are alike. You killed them rather than save them. The one that did survive soon bled to death. You had an Augment's skill with controlling your blade and a true warrior's aim." He smirks. "Very few humans are able to get to that level of skill. You heal rapidly and learn just as quickly. You are fiercely loyal to those you care about and incredible stubborn. These are admiral traits and all of these traits run deeply in our race."

_But just what had happened to force her to be that good with a knife? _During Khan's brief weeks of peace was the Admiral here, terrorizing Ze'eva and the other experiments? _Is that why she's so good with her aim? To kill people like Marcus before he could lay his hands on her? _Well, he's dead now. Khan had made sure of that.

"Maybe," She says. "But I am_ not_ an Augment."

"How so?" He tilts his head and seems to look right through her. His blue eyes shine brightly as he looks her over.

"I'm not strong." She answers with her held head high. Her blue-green eyes are narrowed as she speaks. "I'm not savage and I don't enjoy killing people. This, I believe, is an abnormality of _your _race."

He frowns.

Ze'eva glances outside to watch Spock talk to Aaron.

They're sitting on the grass lotus style. Spock speaks slowly and softly and Aaron listens intently. When they finish, Spock moves to stand but Aaron grabs his sleeve.

"Can you teach me how to be a Vulcan?" Aaron asks and Spock raises an eyebrow at the small boy.

Minutes later, Aaron is learning the art of meditation. Their eyes are closed, their bodies relaxed. Khan tries hard but at the moment, he finds that he doesn't really hate the irritating Vulcan as much as he had originally thought, not with him taking time to bond with the small toddler.

But he still dislikes him.

**…**

"You requested to talk to me?" I ask Kirk as I walk into the Conference Room. Khan had given me a suspicious look when I had walked in but he continued to the labs nonetheless.

_I've finally driven him to paranoia,_ I think._ The next thing I know, he'll probably be crying in the corner and telling himself that it's going to be alright-but he hasn't eaten any of Cassie's cooking just yet. There's still hope to delay severe mental trauma. _I smile at the thought.

"Yes." He says in answer to me question before saying authoritatively, "Please, take a seat."

I'm no longer smiling. _Excuse me,_ captain_?_ What_ did you just tell me?_

"And then what?" I cock my head at him. "Are you going to offer me a refreshment from my own refrigerator_, captain_? I am the leader of the SAR—this is my workplace. Perhaps you should have a seat." I narrow my eyes at him he smirks.

"Sorry," he apologizes.

"What do you want?" I cross my arms over my chest and give him a level stare.

"I want to talk to you about Khan's crew."

**…**

"What was your meeting about?" Khan demands when he finds me in the Motor Pool where we fix the broken ships. "Me? Are you people so petty to believe that I am blind and stupid?" He sneers.

"We were talking about your crew." I say absently and I watch the anger slip off his face to be replaced by shock as if I had just slapped him.

_Who knows? Mentally, maybe my words were a slap. Ugh. Where's Cassie when I need her? She understands human things like conversations and facial expression. Darn you, Cassie!_

"My crew?" The anger jumps back and his eyes harden. _Jeez, is this guy bipolar?_ "They're dead." He snarls.

"No they aren't. Star Fleet wanted you to think that." I can tell the moment I said it that my words angered him even more. Probably not a wise move.

"Why?" He walks forward so he towers over me. I raise an eyebrow at him and move away to continue making repairs on a nearby ship.

"It was part of some deal." I shrug. "They could have you think your crew was dead or have Sector 31 rip you apart while you stayed here." I shrug. "I picked the lesser of two evils which would entail that both you and your people would be safe.

"You knew?" He growls and I'm reminded of a primal animal: dangerous and feral. Hence, the shock collar. I'm beginning to see why so many fear him. He's dangerous-a killer without remorse. He'd do anything for his crew. Was it wise to tell him about them? I had thought it was...now...I'm not so sure.

"I did know." I admit. He takes a deep breath and exhales in an attempt to contain his rage. It doesn't seem to work very well but at least he isn't lunging for my throat. Or, at least, not yet, anyway.

"And what will happen to them? How many have they killed already?" He follows me as I move to the wing of the ship. I try to act like his close proximity doesn't bother me, but it does. My skin is crawling like a whole nest of fire ants have been dumped on my head and now race along my arms, my back, my legs. I flinch slightly as he drawls closer and I quickly put more space between us: I don't trust those hands.

"None of them." I say matter-of-factly. "None of them are dead or awake. Captain Kirk said that, before communications went down, they were talking about reviving some of them and sending them here—with the collars on."

"To be prisoners in a world they don't understand." Khan scowls. "To be science experiments for men that they should be ruling."

"No, to be relatively free and to see if you're the only crazy one. If they act somewhat normal, then Star Fleet will divorce them from your actions and wake all of them up." Hope gleams in his eyes at my words but he's been lied to so many times concerning his family that he has difficulty believing me. I don't blame him. The life an experiment is a hard one. To survive, you have to give up a few things: like hope, trust, and honor.

"When?" He breaths.

"I don't know. It was an idea that they were throwing around. Now, we've lost all communications with them. It could be a while if ever." And this is considering that it isn't a trap or a trick. That they aren't leaving us here, defenseless, while the Klingons grow in numbers and hostility.

"But they are alive?" He asks, his eyes shining with barely suppressed hope as if the wrong answer would cause him to shatter into a million irreparable pieces.

"Yep."

"And they are uninjured?" His voice is neutral as he tries to strangle the joy flaring up in his chest.

"As far as I know."

"And what will happen to them? When—_if_—they are awoken?"

"They'll stay here, I guess. I don't know. That's what I need to figure out while we work on getting communications up again. I certainly can't have 73 Augments living under my roof!"

"I'll help you." He says suddenly. "Where is the Communications Center?"

"Excuse me?" I blink at him. Moments ago he was ready to kill me, now he wants to help me? What?

"I will help you." He repeats slowly and his blue eyes ablaze with determination.

"Flame runs it down in the labs." The words have barely left my mouth when he runs away and bounds down the hallway with long loping strides.


	54. Chapter 54

**Chapter 54**

"Hello, Ze'eva." Spock says neutrally as I walk briskly into the communications room. Khan is nowhere in sight. _Should I worry?_

"Spock," I nod to him. "How's it going?" His eyebrows knit together for a minute as he ponders my question.

"Fine." He says eventually. "And you?"

I think before nodding, "Doing good."

"Are you sure?" He looks worried or, at least, as worried as a Vulcan can allow themselves to appear.

"Yes." I say firmly. "I am sure. So, how are repairs coming for the Enterprise?"

"Scotty is still working on making the necessary repairs but it may be a while."

"I'll lend you some of my own engineers then." I shrug. "Things have been pretty quiet here for them and I don't need them getting lazy—you'd be doing me a favor, actually. Scotty can work over them, but the extra hands should help speed up the process and give the guy more time to sleep. Are there injured on your side? We could spare some medics as well."

"McCoy is doing fine without extra help but I will inquire later if he would need more medics on hand."

"Sounds like a plan. Well, I got to go," _And find Khan before he winds up killing someone! _"Get back to me later on what kind of people you need to aid in repairs."

"And where can I find you?"

"Here just…I don't know. Meet me after work at my place something." I shrug and jog towards the doorway. Please don't let him have killed anyone. Please! "Bye, Spock!" I shout as I rush away.

**…**

I move from room to room but I still can't find it. Truk shows up with the kids and soon we have a little search party of sorts looking for him. So far, we're not having any luck. Where could he have gone? The labs were empty and, surprisingly, Flame wasn't there. He's always there. Heck, he lives there! Was he kidnapped? Khan's collar prohibits him from hurting people but is it possible he dragged the boy away to use as a hostage or something.

"Any luck?" I call Truk over a short range walkie talkie.

"No. what about you?"

"No." I say calmly.

_Why would I call you if I had found him, dimwit?! _ I sigh._ Forget it, _I think._ Right now, we need to find him not kill each other…Okay, now, if I were a power hungry lunatic who desperately wishes to acquire my missing family and would have no qualms about leaving a trail of bodies in my wake, where would I go?_

I have no idea.

"Keep looking." I order. "He's got to be somewhere." _Maybe he's harassing Alieth._ I wouldn't call them friends per say, but he seemed to tolerate the young Vulcan medic better than most. "I'll take the med bay, you check out the living quarters."_ Is it possible he's escaping? Is he finding a way to take that infernal collar off so that he can steal his family back and kill anyone who's ever dared to threaten them or get on his nerves? I've gotten on his nerves a lot._

_Hm…maybe I should be nicer to people…?_

_Nah, I'm sure it will work out…_

"Why would he be there?" Truk wonders out loud and I have the sudden urge to strangle him through the walkie talkie. If it were possible, I would have and without a second's hesitation.

_'__What makes you think I know?' _I want to scream and tear out his vocal cords.

"Just check it out for the sake of being thorough, jeez." I roll my eyes. Before remembering that he can't see me and then I curse quietly under my breath.

_Why must everything be so complicated today?_

**…**

Rage roars in his chest as cold steel is held against his throat. He glares at his attacker and counts how many different ways he could kill him: 12, but he holds his anger in and forces himself to glare coldly down at the worm that has dared to threaten him. If Khan attacks and harms him, he'd be electrocuted to an inch of his life.

_Curse this stupid Vulcan technology!_

After he gets out of this, he just might bomb New Vulcan.

"What do you think you're doing?" Ze'eva rounds the corner and glares at the man. "Get that blade away from his throat before I put you in a hospital."

His assailant smiles and Ze'eva's hand slips down to the hilt of her knife. His smile doesn't last for long when he sees the pure rage that burns brightly in her raging blue-green eyes. Khan may have been as cold and dangerous as a deafening blizzard, but right now, Ze'eva was a wildfire: rage, and fury, and power. If this worm wasn't careful, he was going to burn to a crisp. But his fear doesn't last for long—moron. He follows her orders and very slowly he moves away from Khan and sheaths his knife.

He then smirks arrogantly at Ze'eva and starts to walk towards her boldly. She draws her knife. He freezes mid-step, his eyes wide and worried. Khan can see the doubt drifting around his mind as he considers whether or not Ze'eva would actually stab him. Both Khan and the man can tell that she would—with little to no hesitation.

_What made her so angry?_ Khan wonders. Typically, Ze'eva was the happy-go-lucky poster child. He doesn't linger on that thought as Ze'eva's glare hardens and Khan finds himself glad that her rage is not centered on him and feels a small whisper of pity for his attacker before pushing it away. Why should Khan pity him? Two more minutes alone with that jerk and he's probably be dead right now.

He doesn't deserve Khan's pity.

Or mercy.

"What are you doing here?" She asks as she sets forward. "How many are with you?"

"I am looking for the leader of this establishment and I come alone," He gives a slow and easy smile and his fingers twitch towards his weapon.

Khan moves quickly and drags the knife away from him. He swallows but makes no move to grab it back. Khan smirks and flips the blade easily in the air, catching it by the tip of the blade and flipping it again. And again. Now, true fear is beginning to fester inside that sniveling worm.

_Good. It was about time someone put him back in his place,_ Khan thinks coldly.

"Are you now?" She relaxes a little but none of the anger fades from her eyes. "And do know who this 'leader' is, _sir_?" She spits the word out like a small child would broccoli.

"No." He admits nervously and Khan can hear his heart beginning to pick up as the realization of just how much danger he really is in starts to sink in.

"Right this way, then." She says calmly and turns her back to the two as she walks fluidly away from them. _What is she doing_, Khan wonders. "I saw them in there earlier." She says over her shoulder.

She points into a cluttered room. The man gives a mock bow to Ze'eva and enters without a second's hesitation. That's when she strikes. Her fist pounds into a button on the wall, securing him in and Khan then watches as the floor drops out beneath the man and he vanishes into the darkness. The clutter, it turned out, was merely a hologram and did nothing to save him as he plummeted downwards.

Khan smirks. _Good, he deserved it and whatever punishment awaits him at the bottom._

The moment the intruder is out of sight the rage vanishes from Ze'eva and she analyzes Khan carefully before pulling the knife away from his long fingers. He narrows his eyes at her but allows her to take the weapon away from him—it's not like he'd be able to use it anyway with this collar around his neck.

"Your actions were unethical," Khan says finally and he analyzed her carefully. She had never seen her act so cold, so savage. He was so proud of her. "I believe your human friend, _Cassie_, would call it 'morally wrong'."

"How so? He broke into the SAR and started attacking people."

Him, she had meant. He started to attack Khan. _Strange, why would she care for his safety?_

She continues, "I'm certainly not going to tell him the person he's looking for is me—that would be both dangerous and stupid especially if his previous actions were anything to go by." Khan nods to her: it certainly sounded logical.

She raises and eyebrow at him and he fights the urge to smile at her. She was smart like him. Her anger had been a ruse—a bluff—to fool her enemy and make him easier to control. She was manipulative and fiercely intelligent…yes, she was _definitely_ his daughter.

"Besides, he's not dead or anything." She finishes and Khan fights the urge to roll his eyes. _Yes, unfortunately, he's _not _dead, which means that he _will_ be back. Good job thinking that through, Einstein,_ he snaps sarcastically. _She should have killed the man when she had the chance. He may just have to rectify that._

"I thought Vulcans didn't lie." Khan raises an eyebrow at her as he changes topics. "You told him that you were in there—that was a lie and you consider yourself to be a Vulcan, correct? Since you do not think of yourself as an Augment."

_Even though you are an Augment,_ he wants to add.

"How fortunate it is, then, that I am only _part_ Vulcan. And here I thought the elderly were feeble." Her blue-green eyes glint mischievously, "I guess you proved me right, huh, _old man_?" She taunts and takes a few steps away from him.

He considers pinning her to the wall with her own knife to her throat but pushes the idea away.

Reluctantly.

"So, how far have you gotten with communications?" She asks as they begin to walk back towards the med bay. "Any progress, yet, gramps?"

"Not much," He admits. "Flame and I have been throwing around ideas and strategies so far nothing has worked. And you?"

"I've spent all morning trying to track you down." She growls irritably.

He glances at her before looking straight ahead of him as they march steadily towards the med bay and Alieth barely spares either of them a glance as she rushes from patient to patient.

"Why?" He asks, genuinely surprised. "What do you care of my whereabouts?" She hasn't cared so far. So long as no bodies show up, he can pretty much come and go as he pleases.

"Well, if you're missing that long of a period of time then you're either committing mass genocide or getting attacked by girl scouts. Looks like this time it was the little girls, huh, Khan? You know, for a big, bad dictator, that was sort of pathetic, dude. Must be your old age."

He glares at her for insulting him but she doesn't seem worried in the slightest.

_Stupid Vulcan collar! A curse upon you and your creators! They will rue the day they are thought to think you up!_

"And what," He says finally after he swallows his anger, "Will happen to this 'girl scout' of mine?" He growls and she stomps on his foot to show that she's not afraid of him. He narrows her eyes at her but she doesn't cower away from him. Khan blames the collar.

"Do you really want to know?" She asks with a curious tilt of her head.

Khan can imagine a thousand horrible demises that would be awaiting that foolish worm at the bottom of the abyss. He could already hear his bones snapping and his agonized screams as his flesh was torn away from his body by sharp, needle like teeth. Acid would rain down from the ceiling and he would drown in a pool of his own blood.

A warm rush of satisfaction flushes through him as his blue eyes slice into Ze'eva's.

But none of them would happen. Disappointment blossoms within his icy being.

She had already said that he was alive. Khan sighs bitterly: _next time_, he promises himself inwardly. _Next time._

"Yes." He says firmly.

"The hole empties out into a latrine." Her lips twitch and he can tell she's fighting back a smile: she's proud of this outcome. _That is the _worst _she can possibly do? _That_ is her idea of pure evil? A…'latrine'? She's joking right? Surely he's getting some sort of worse treatment than simply floundering in human…sewage, right?_

His mind balks. She's not joking. That's it—he's disowning her.

"You are being serious." He states and she nods gravely in confirmation.

"That is a punishment I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy." She says seriously.

"And how is that?" He growls dangerously.

"Yesterday was Spicy Food Friday." She says and he smiles wickedly. It wasn't what he would have picked but she was right, in a way. The smell itself would be torture. Khan wanted to see the moment the revelation hit him and he wanted to see the look on his face when he realized he was swimming in human and humanoid waste. The image would be priceless.

But it would never replace the satisfying cracking sounds that would occur when Khan's long, dangerous fingers found their way to his skull and ended the man's life once and for all. No one threatens Khan Noonien Singh and gets away with it.


	55. Chapter 55

**Read on. If you dare…**

**Chapter 55**

They work tirelessly on the communications only to pause to check in on the children and feed them. Six of Ze'eva best engineers and ten of the new recruits have been assigned to help with the Enterprise and Scotty practically beams with relief when he sees them. Over the course of the next few says, the exhausted Scotsman sends current blueprints of the broken device to Ze'eva and Khan to analyze…but nothing seems to be wrong. They seem to be in perfect condition.

So, why then, was no one answering back?

Khan yawns and leans back against the wall, his eyes fluttering shut as the exhaustion hits him like a punch in the face.

"Take a few hours off." Ze'eva spirts him with a water bottle filled with freezing cold liquid. He glares at her clenches his fists. "That's an order. Go to the medbay and secure a cot to rest in. I'll relieve you in about four hours and we'll switch out." He nods, too tired to argue. He couldn't see his crew again if he were tired to assist the humans in getting them here.

"Fine." He snaps as he stands and he wobbles uneasily on his feet. Ze'eva is there in an instant and tries to help him stand. McCoy and Truk see the two and together, the three of them assist Khan to the medbay. The moment Khan lies down, McCoy hits him with a hypospray that contains a sedative long enough to leave Khan unconscious for at least eight hours.

"You two are working yourselves to the bone," McCoy complains and Truk grabs Ze'eva's elbow and McCoy quickly sticks her as well. Her eyes droop and together they gently lower her onto the cot opposite of Khan's and throw light blanket over the sedated pair.

"Thanks, doc." Truk says and McCoy rolls his eyes.

"If I knew being a doctor would be this much trouble, I think I would have picked a different profession." He growls and Truk smiles at him.

"You? Nah," He chuckles.

"Alright." McCoy narrows his eyes and points a hypospray threateningly at him. "Now get out or you're next."

"What? A few extra hours of sleep? That the worse you got?"

"This one causes paralysis." Bones smiles evilly and Truk runs out of the room.

"Okay, okay." He puts his hands up in mock surrender. "You win, jeez." He walks away.

"Gets 'em every time." McCoy smiles as he turns to check Ze'eva's and Khan's pulses: they're both normal. Good, now he can abandon him. He loves his job sometimes.

**…**

My head throbs when I wake up and Alieth is watching me quietly. Well, that's not creepy at all. I sit up slowly and the world spins around me. I'm going to kill that cantankerous doctor one day.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I just got hit by truck." I rub my forehead and Alieth moves to check my pusle. I watch her carefully, ready to snap her wrist should she pull out a hypospray.

"You seem to be doing well despite the high dosage you were given." She says carefully and I watch her suspiciously. She's leaving something out.

"Alright, out with it? What's happening?"

She sighs and lowers her voice as she takes a quick glance at Khan. What's going on here? We both know he's awake, he knows that we know, why are playing this stupid little game?

"Follow me," She tugs on my sleeve and I stumble shakily to my feet. "Look."

She points to one of the screens in the hallway and I inch forward. My blood freezes and I jerk back instinctively as the man's evil face fills the screen. His dead, shark like eyes stare blankly at me and I shiver. I don't look back to know that Khan is standing directly behind me and that he is scowling angrily at the screen—his face twisted into a mask of pure rage and hatred.

"Admiral Marcus." He growls savagely and the hairs on the back of my neck lift straight up at Khan's voice.

**…**

_He's dead._ Khan thinks frantically. He remembered killing the old man himself! _There was no possible way he could have survived an ordeal like that!_

But there he was, on live TV, talking and laughing with media reporters. His daughter stands behind him and watches her father with wide eyes and can't contain her shock in front of the flashing cameras and insistent reporters.

"Is that who that guy is?" Ze'eva asks. "Admiral Marcus?"

"Yes." He breaths and his heart thunders powerfully in his wide, muscled chest. They don't look at each other. If Marcus alive, then Khan's crew soon won't be.

"Alieth! Turn the volume on!" Ze'eva commands and they both lean forward to listen to his words.

_"__Don't worry." Marcus assures the roaring crowds. "The situation is being handled. Even as we speak, the vermin are being rounded up for expiration." _

He smiles and Khan's blood curdles in his veins.

**…**

"What is he talking about?" I break my gaze away to look at Khan and he frowns at me. My stomach begins to sink as if I'd just swallowed a cup full of lead.

"Us." He says after a long pause. "He's talking about us."

And then the lights go dark. Cloth is shoved in front of my nose and my heads goes fuzzy as my nose inhales a sickly sweet scent: drugs. Khan gives a muffled scream as a phaser blast sends him to the ground on his knees. I know without being told that they've injected him with a hypospray and he's now unconscious on the cold, unforgiving floor. I try to scream but no one can hear me. A thud hits the ground and then a muffled shriek: Alieth. Again I try to slip free but I can no longer stand. I sag limply into my attackers arms and they push the cloth harder against my nose. My head pounds and my chest burns.

My eyes are getting droopy and I'm just so tired…

"I thought you knew I'd be back for you." The Man whispers as I fall to the ground, my body landing on top of Khan's. He groans but doesn't move. "As I said before, you can never escape, Ze'eva."

And then I'm gone.

Swallowed by oblivion.

**This chapter is short, I know but I'll be continuing it in a different story called "An Old Foe". I should have it up by tomorrow evening.**


End file.
